After the Dawn: The First Years
by WolfMoon
Summary: AUHarry raised by Sirius Voldemort has fallen, the wizarding world is celebrating. But little Harry Potter, their hero, has disappeared after he was taken to his aunt and uncle, and Sirius Black was never caught …
1. Take It To London

**_Summary_**: Voldemort has fallen, the wizarding world is celebrating. But little Harry Potter, their hero, has disappeared after he was taken to his aunt and uncle, and Sirius Black was never caught …

**_Disclaimer_**: I do not own Harry Potter. All things taken from the books belong to J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros, or anyone else who might have a claim on it. This story has been written for my own enjoyment, and that of J.K's fans as they wait for book six to come out. I am not making any money from this story.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS STORY WAS STARTED IN 2003, prior to the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I was 14 at the time. Please do not point out things that need to be fixed - this is not a story that I ever intend on coming back to. Also, please don't point out 'but Zabini is a boy' - etc. This was not confirmed at the time of writing.**

**_Spoilers_**: Information, characters, settings and (some) events have been taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

**_After the Dawn_**

Prologue: Take It To London

_It was the 1st of November in the year 1981. The night before, Lily and James Potter had died, the Dark Lord, Voldemort, had fallen, and little Harry Potter had been taken by Rubeus Hagrid to Number Four Privet Drive, where Albus Dumbledore waited._

_ Albus Dumbledore, along with Minerva McGonagall and Rubeus Hagrid had had a short conversation in the dead of the night, before leaving baby Harry Potter on the doorstep of Number Four Privet Drive, with a letter explaining 'everything'._

Petunia Dursley was humming softly. Her baby boy, Dudley, was still asleep and she was making her small, normal family breakfast. Taking the milk bottles, she walked over to the front door and opened it, not looking down.

She walked outside and nearly tripped over something on the doorstep. Was this some prank that the local teenagers had concocted? She wondered, looking down.

What she saw made her shriek and jump backwards in alarm, dropping the milk bottles with a clatter.

Harry Potter was startled out of sleep and started bawling angrily at being woken. As he writhed and screamed within his blankets, the letter that he'd been holding slipped from his gasp and fell out of the blankets.

Shivering, but no longer screaming, Petunia Dursley bent and lifted the envelope, with a look of disgust on her face. For a moment, she considered leaving the baby there too, but the neighbours would notice …

She scooped up the baby and shut it in the dark, unused cupboard under the stairs, where it stopped bawling in surprise.

Upstairs, there was a thunder of heavy footsteps as Vernon Dursley, Petunia's husband, clattered downstairs. "What happened?" He asked from the stairs.

Petunia was reading the letter that she'd found with the baby on her doorstep. Vernon came over behind her and read it over her shoulder.

"How could they?" He growled angrily. "They should know what we think of _them_ and _their_ kind …"

"I told her!" Petunia said, her voice higher than usual. "I told her to watch out for those wizards … but did she listen? Oh no! And now she's gone and got herself killed and expects me to look after her son!"

"Well, we've our own son to raise and feed! We don't need another one. I won't have one under this roof," Vernon decided.

"But what will do with it?" Petunia asked. As far as she was concerned, wizards were less than human, and didn't deserve titles such as 'she' and 'he'.

"We could take it to an orphanage…" Vernon mused aloud.

"And leave some poor, hapless individual to adopt it and find out about its … unnormalties?" Petunia replied, slightly shocked.

"You're right, my dear," Vernon agreed, now thinking his plan through. "I could leave it in some backstreet, where no one would notice it. It would probably just die anyway."

"Yes … yes, that's a good plan!" Petunia decided, as her nephew decided to start crying again. "Take it now! It might contaminate Dudders!"

At that moment there was a howl from upstairs, signalling that 'Dudders' had awoken. "Oh, mummy has to go and take care of ickle Duddykins!" she cooed, racing off upstairs.

"I'll take it away then," Vernon said importantly, with the air of one who was removing a poisonous snake from the house.

He walked slowly towards the cupboard, an expression of fear and intense dislike upon his face, as he opened the door.

The child's bawling offended his ears and he reached into a pocket, drawing out a handkerchief, which he balled up and stuffed in the babies mouth.

Unable to use its mouth, the baby stopped screaming, but still cried, tears soaking into its cheeks, face red and puffy.

Wrapping it tightly in a blanket, Vernon got into his company car and backed out of the driveway. Driving away from his house, Vernon wondered where on earth he would take the boy …

_To London_, he thought suddenly, the words seeming to appear in his mind. _I'll take it to London_.

He drove steadily, heading towards London. After awhile, he took the gag out of the babies mouth, because it was turning blue. He didn't want to be found with a dead child in the car.

Soon enough he reached London. The baby was crying again, but Vernon muffled it by adjusting the blanket to cover its face. He thought it had gone to sleep now.

Finally he reached a dark part of the city, stopped the car at the entrance to a dark looking alleyway, checked to make sure that no one was around, and stole out of the car.

Walking to the back of the alleyway, he heard the scuffles and squeaks of millions of small creatures, rats and mice, probably, hurrying away from where he was walking.

He set the baby down on the ground, still wrapped within its blanket, the lightning bolt scar easily visible on its forehead.

Vernon stood for a moment, then turned and strode away. The baby could do as it wished – he couldn't care less.

Finis Prologue.

Hey all! New story! Don't worry, I'll still be continuing 'In Every Darkness' but this idea has been playing at my mind for some time now. Please review!

The chapters here will get longer, longer than the 'In Every Darkness' ones, but not for a little while yet. I'm just setting the scene at the moment.

Also, this story won't be updated as fast as In Every Darkness is … I'm going to _try_ and update a chapter of each story on alternating days, but I don't know how successful that will be …

~WolfMoon~


	2. Running

**_Story dedicated to: Butler, my first reviewer!!_**

**__**

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter One: Running

 Sirius Black, in the form of Padfoot, sat outside the ruins of Godric's Hollow. Yesterday, his best friends had lived here, alive and happy. Today it was in ruins, like his own life. 

 He had gone to check on Peter … but Peter hadn't been there. Sirius had wondered then: Was it Remus who was the traitor, or was it someone he had trusted with everything that could matter to him?

 He had leapt onto his motorbike, thinking, it wasn't far from here to Godric's Hollow, there was going to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, Lily, James and Peter would be laughing at him for thinking something had gone drastically wrong.

 As he had approached, however, his worst fears were confirmed. Over the house hovered the Dark Mark. Voldemort had been here before him, at Peter's instructions.

 It had been Peter who was the traitor, not Remus after all … Sirius had made himself go onwards, though he had been blinded by tears at the thought of what must have happened.

 Lily, James, and little, innocent Harry, all dead because of him … Because he'd trusted the wrong person. As he'd landed the bike, he had noted that someone was there ahead of him.

 "Hagrid!" he'd yelled out, and the figure had turned. Hagrid had been weeping, tears soaking his beard and chest, making his face shine slightly in the moonlight. Sirius had imagined that he must have looked something like that himself.

 "Sirius … Lily an' James, th-their dead!" Hagrid had sobbed.

 "But Harry?" Sirius had asked, suddenly his heart alight with some small hope once more. "Is Harry dead too?"

 "Nah," Hagrid had replied, now looking amazed. "Nah … som'how, he lived, Sirius! An' he took You-Know-Oo down! 'S amazing!"

 Sirius had suddenly felt as if part of the weight on his shoulders had lifted. His godson was still alive … and the Dark Lord was gone, forever.

 "I got 'im here," Hagrid had said then, holding out his arms. Sirius had peered forward, seeing Harry, awake, but oddly silent. There had been an oddly shaped cut on his forehead, a bolt of lightning.

 "What's that?" he'd asked Hagrid.

 "I dunno, Professor Dumbledore will though. I'm to take Harry to 'im," Hagrid had replied.

 "Hagrid, I'm his godfather. Lily and James would have wanted me to take care of him," Sirius had pointed out. "It was their will!"

 "Professor Dumbledore tol me t'bring im," Hagrid replied sternly. "I'm t'take im to Privet Drive, meeting up wit Dumbledore there."

 Sirius had hesitated a moment. He had to get Peter anyway … It would be best not to have Harry with him then. He could also go and take Harry from the Dursley's – they wouldn't care about him, Sirius knew.

 "Ok, Hagrid. Take Harry to Dumbledore. Take my bike – it'll be safer than any other way. The most important thing here is to keep Harry safe … The Death Eaters will undoubtedly be looking for him, if he got rid of Voldemort," he had hardly noticed Hagrid flinch at the name.

 "A'right. Thanks, Sirius. Where'll I bring it back ta?" Hagrid asked.

 "Take it to the Black House," Sirius had replied with a moments hesitation. "I'll pick it up from there later."

 "Righ' I'll see ya later then," Hagrid had said, smiling easily.

 "I hope so, Hagrid, really I do."

  He Aparated then, before he was tempted to grab Harry and run.

 From then, Sirius noted bitterly, everything had gone downhill even further. He'd managed to corner Peter that morning, but the little rat … Peter had shouted for a street full of Muggles to hear that Sirius had betrayed Lily and James.

 Sirius had thought that he could stun him then, but Peter had blasted the street apart behind him, killing everyone.

 Sirius had thought, for a moment, that Peter was dead too. He'd laughed, even as he saw the Ministry Wizards appearing on the scene.

 Then he'd seen a tail disappearing down into the sewer and he'd realised – Peter wasn't dead. He was faking it … _He, Sirius was going to be blamed._

 Taking one look at the approaching wizards, Sirius had recognized one of them as Cornelius Fudge. Fudge wasn't going to believe that Sirius was innocent – the man never listened, once he had the idea that he was right.

 Sirius had done the only thing he could do then. He'd disaparated. He knew that this would only make things worse, that the Ministry would be convinced he'd fled to evade capture. 

 Oh well, that couldn't be reversed now. He just had to make sure that Harry stayed alright. He'd go and get his bike – hopefully Hagrid would return it before word got out about his supposed 'turn to the dark side'.

_ Right, Padfoot,_ Sirius thought to himself. _You have to get up. You have to Aparate to Grimmauld Place and get your bike. Then you have to go … Where?_

A thought invaded his mind. _London, stay in London_. 

 _As good a place as any, Sirius decided. He could always leave again fairly soon. _I wonder why I should stay in London,_ he then thought, even as he disaparated._

 When he arrived at Grimmauld Place, Sirius simply walked around the back, rather than bother with the front door. He knew that he wasn't welcome in his families home, and he thought that Hagrid would have left the motorbike there.

 He was relieved to find that the bike was indeed out the back, but not so when he saw something lurking near it.

 "Traitor!" the something squeaked at him.

 "Kreacher, _get away from my bike_," Sirius ordered sternly. He knew that the house elf couldn't disobey his commands, as Sirius was a member of the Black family, which Kreacher was sworn to serve.

 Muttering something under his breath, Kreacher disappeared inside, leaving Sirius and his bike alone. Taking out his wand, Sirius flicked at the bike, using a spell that would run a check and make sure everything was there and in working order.

 Satisfied that Kreacher hadn't done anything to his bike, Sirius pulled on his helmet and a black leather jacket and pants, since wizard robes would be just a tad noticeable.

 He disguised the motorbike with a few well placed charms – most people in the Ministry knew him, and therefore knew his bike.

 Swinging astride the bike with a grace born of long practice, Sirius kicked the motor into live and zoomed away from the Black House. _Where will I go now?_ he wondered.

 _South, a voice commanded him._

 _Why south? He asked himself._

 _Just go! The voice ordered and Sirius shrugged and obeyed, turning quickly. He'd taken advice from worse things than voices in his head before, after all._

 As he drove down the busy roads, Sirius turned this way and that, following the call of the voice, which no longer spoke in words, simply drew him forwards.

 It never once crossed his mind that this could be a trap, either by the Ministry or the Death Eaters, both of whom he was currently at odds with. 

 He reached the out skirts of London, but the call drew him onwards. Suddenly, he was overtaken by the need to stop. The call was still there, but the voiced commanded him stop.

 Not really understanding what was going on, Sirius parked his bike and slipped away from it. The call was irresistible, he wanted to go forwards. But he had been told to stop …

_ Change_, the voice told him. Without a second thought, Sirius did so, suddenly a hulking, bear like dog was standing where he had been. In this form, he edged closer, slowly, to the place where the call was coming from.

 As he came nearer, he saw a neat looking company car drive up, and stop in front of a deserted alleyway. Sirius wondered why any respectable person – for who else would have a car like that? – would come here.

 When a fat man with a large moustache stepped out of the car, Sirius barely prevented himself from snarling aloud. He recognized this man from a few photos that Lily had of her sister Petunia's wedding.

 This was Vernon Dursley – Lily's sisters husband, Harry's uncle. Harry had been taken to this man yesterday, to be taken care of. So what was Vernon doing here?

 The man walked around to the other side of the car, and opened the door, taking out a small bundle. Sirius inhaled, and almost immediately he picked up the scent of Harry. He knew his godson's scent, had memorised it for James, in case Harry ever wandered out of the house and got lost.

 This bastard had brought Harry here. Sirius knew exactly what Vernon Dursley was about to do. He was going to leave Harry, a defenceless one year old boy, in a back alley in one of the worst parts of the town. 

 Again, he barely prevented himself from growling aloud.

 Vernon Dursley looked around, checking to make sure no one was going to witness what he was doing, and walked hurriedly into the alleyway.

 A moment later, he returned and, without a backward glace, got into his company car and drove off. Sirius raced forwards immediately. The call was coming from the alleyway, the place where Harry was. Somehow, he'd been called to his godson.

 Sirius could care less how this had happened, he had his godson back, and that was all that mattered. As he raced into the alleyway, he saw the beady eyes of many rodents, heard their scuffles and squeaks. Knew that they were interested in this thing that had been left here, alone with them.

 But not alone any longer, Sirius thought, changing form back to a man, he knelt and lifted his godson, little Harry, into his arms.

 The boy was asleep, Sirius noted. He would probably wake up when the bike was started, but that couldn't be helped. He just hoped that Harry wasn't sick or something. 

 With his godson cradled in his arms, Sirius Black walked from the alleyway. Even though he was a wanted man, he didn't mind, because he had his godson. They would live together, and they would be happy.

***

Finis Chapter One.

 Hey all! I got a _great_ response for the first chapter of this, some 37 reviews! And therefore, I'm giving you this chapter a little early – I wasn't going to put it up until tomorrow morning! Let's see if we can do that again, eh? Another 37 reviews can't be that difficult, can it?


	3. Worries

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Two: Worries

Albus Dumbledore paced his study, feeling worried. He'd just gotten an owl from Arabella Figg, saying that she'd gone around to the Dursley's house, but had seen no sign of Harry…

 There was a knock on the door. "Minerva! Come in!" Albus called, his cheerful voice not betraying his anxiety.

 The door opened and Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor walked into the room. She looked stiff and formal as she nodded a greeting to him, and Albus was pretty sure this was because he hadn't agreed with her the night before about little Harry Potter.

 "You called, Albus?" she asked, voice clipped.

 "Indeed I did. I have just gotten disturbing news from Arabella Figg. She went to visit Harry's aunt and uncle, but saw no sign of him there this morning … I want you to and check – discreetly – that the boy is alright," Albus replied. "If anything is wrong with him there – _do not act. Return here and let me know. I will decide the appropriate measure to be take."_

 Minerva's eyes narrowed slightly, but she nodded. "Very well Albus. I should be back in the next few hours, before dark, at the latest." She turned and walked out of the office.

 Albus sighed softly and looked back at the letter in his hands. "Ah, Fawkes, I hope I have made the right decision," he murmured to his phoenix.

 Fawkes gave a soft, sleepy trill.

 Albus sighed and rose. "Well, I can't stay here all day. Its lunchtime, I suppose I'd best go and join the rest of the school," he remarked to no one in particular.

 Fawkes trilled again.

 ***

 Remus Lupin was seated at his kitchen table. He had been for the past seven hours, crying. He'd gotten word that Lily and James were dead.

 "Sirius, how could you?" he asked. He didn't want to think that it had been Sirius who had betrayed Lily and James, but who else could it be?

 For a while, he'd entertained the idea of finding that Sirius was innocent, that it had been someone else … Or that Sirius had died rather than give up the information or something.

 But that idea was quickly nipped in the bud, thanks to the mornings newspaper. Rita Skeeter had reported that Sirius had cornered Peter Pettigrew and killed him in a street full of Muggles.

 Now he was alone. The last Marauder. Peter dead. James dead. Sirius turned to the Dark side. He remembered the pact that they'd made together, when they became the Marauders, back in their third year at Hogwarts.

 "No Marauder may turn to the dark side and remain a Marauder," had been the top qualification. They'd all laughed then – why would any of them turn to the dark? But one of them had.

 If Remus had had to chose who would turn to the dark side, he would have chosen Peter Pettigrew, but it was Peter that had been one of the bravest of them.

 "Peter, I'm sorry that I ever doubted your loyalty to the light," Remus murmured. He never saw or smelt the rat on the windowsill, looking down at him.

 Peter sniggered to himself. Good, his old 'friend' did not suspect him. Remus was convinced that it was Sirius who was the bad guy here. He turned and scuttled down the side of the wall, heading out again. He had to find a place to wait and listen for word of Lord Voldemorts return.

***

 Minerva Aparated in Mrs. Figg's house. The old lady herself appeared to be out, so Minerva simply transformed into a cat and slipped out of the cat flap into the back garden, and jumped over the fence, heading for number four, Privet Drive, where she had been not all that long ago.

 She paused, then changed back to a woman when she saw that no one was watching, and cast a chameleon charm on herself before returning to her cat form.

 She saw that a window was open in the kitchen, and jumped up quickly, looking around. There was no one in the kitchen. She prowled through the downstairs of the house, but saw no one there.

 She headed upstairs, and found the woman, Petunia, cooing over her fat son, who was screaming at the top of his lungs for sweets. There was no other baby in the room.

 It didn't take long for Minerva to realise that Harry Potter wasn't here any more. With a cat sigh, she disaparated away, knowing that it would cause a loud noise, and startle the Muggle woman, but she didn't care. She wanted to find out what had happened to Harry Potter, but she'd promised to go back to Albus first.

***

Sirius headed back to Grimmauld Place, he couldn't think of any other place that he could go. Parking his bike out the back, he headed inside, Harry held carefully to his chest.

 The boy was awake now, and was gurgling happily. "Oot!" he was saying. 

 "That's right mate, Padfoot's here, and he isn't gonna leave you," Sirius said, smiling down at Harry.

 "Oot!" Harry agreed happily.

 Suddenly there was a scuffle outside, and Kreacher appeared. "Traitor," he squeaked disapprovingly at Sirius.

 "I'm staying here for awhile," Sirius informed Kreacher sternly. "You are not to let anyone inside this building without my express permission. You are not to leave this building without my express permission. Now, go and warm up some milk. Don't make it hot enough to burn, but don't let it be cold either."

 "What does the blood traitor want milk for?" Kreacher squeaked, glaring at Sirius.

 "You will no longer refer to me as the blood traitor. I am Sirius, or Master Black," Sirius replied. "I need the milk for my godson, Lily and James's son, Harry."

 Kreacher stood on tiptoes, trying to see the baby in Sirius's arms. Sirius knelt with a faint sigh. "Don't touch him," he warned Kreacher, who didn't seem to be paying attention to him.

 Kreacher peered into Harry's face, the baby's green eyes were wide open and innocent as he looked up at the house elf. Sirius felt as thought something had happened, but he couldn't tell what. 

 "Kreacher will get milk for Master Harry," Kreacher murmured suddenly, and turned, hurrying away into the kitchen.

 "What was that about?" Sirius wondered, but Harry just gurgled and said, "Oot!" again.

 Suddenly Kreacher appeared out the kitchen with a babies bottle full of milk in his hand. "Master Harry's milk, Mr. Black," he said, bobbing in a slight bow that Sirius couldn't help but think was aimed at Harry rather than himself.

 Sirius offered Harry the bottle, and his godson immediately grabbed it, sucking at the teat hungrily. He wouldn't have eaten since the night before. "Poor kid, you must be starving," Sirius murmured, forgetting about Kreacher completely.

 "Master Harry will want something richer than just milk, Kreacher is thinking," the house elf piped up suddenly. "Needs more food! Kreacher will see what he can do …" 

 The house elf was gone before Sirius could say anything. "Well, kiddo, you seem to have worked a change in Kreacher. A good one, at that," he remarked to his godson.

***

Back in Hogwarts, Minerva had told Albus of what she had seen. "As far as I can tell, they either didn't get Harry in the first place, or they got rid of him," she said, angry.

 "Well, I shall have to go and find out. You and Severus will accompany me," Albus said, standing. For a moment, Minerva contemplated arguing against the inclusion of the Potions Master, then decided it wasn't worth it.

 "Very well," she said. A moment later, Severus Snape himself appeared in the office.

 "We are going to Privet Drive. Harry Potter seems to have disappeared," Albus stated. Severus looked as though _he_ would like to protest being involved, but Albus didn't give him the chance. "Bring some Veritaserum with you," he added, sweeping from the room. 

 Severus sighed, his hand touching a leather pouch tucked into a pocket. He never went anywhere without Veritaserum these days – it was in that high a demand.

 He and Minerva followed the headmaster out of the room and off the grounds to Aparate to Little Whinging.

***

"Where is Harry Potter?" Albus Dumbledore demanded of the fat, moustached who answered the door.

 "I don't know what you're talking about," the man informed him, going to close the door, but he did not meet the eyes of the people in front of him.

 "Your nephew, Mr. Dursley, was left on your doorstep last night. Where is he?" Albus said, putting his hand on the door to prevent it being closed.

 "I'm telling you, I don't know what you're talking about!" the man said, an edge of panic in his voice now.

 "Oh, I think you do, Mr. Dursley," Severus Snape stepped forward, glaring into Vernon Dursley's face. "Why don't you let us in, so we can discuss this like civilized human beings."

 Vernon Dursley spluttered and tried to protest, but the two wizards and the witch easily forced him aside and entered the house. "Don't even think of calling those police men," Minerva added, nodding to the telephone sternly.

 Petunia Dursley was in the kitchen, fixing lunch when her husband backed into the room, still trying to get the _things to leave the house. "We don't want anything to do with your kind," she informed Albus sourly. "Go away."_

 "I'm afraid I can't do that until I find out what happened to your sisters son, Harry. He was left here last night, but does not seem to be here now."

 "He isn't there, and I don't know where he is, or what you are talking about," Petunia replied, her voice slightly shrill, as she set a cup of tea in front of Vernon, and another on the table as she sat down, which she took a sip of.

 Albus signalled Snape quickly. He did not see the Veritaserum leave Severus, nor did he see any difference in the tea that Petunia and her husband were drinking.

 But he quickly saw the effect the potion had on the two Muggles. "Who are you?" he asked them.

 "Vernon Dursley," the man replied, his voice a monotone, and his wife replied in like form a second later. 

 "Where is Harry Potter?" 

 "In London," there was a slightly triumphant note in Vernon's voice.

 "How did he get there?" 

 "I took it there. Couldn't have a wizard in the house … Horrible things. Took it to London and left it there. Hope the thing dies," Vernon replied.

 "Where in London did you leave Harry Potter?" Albus asked, his voice shaking with fury.

 "Some back alleyway. The rats will probably eat it," Vernon replied, a slight sneer in his tone.

 Albus took one last look at the two Muggles, then stood up, his two professors following suit. He strode out the house without a backward glance, his whole body shaking with intense fury.

 "I told you that the boy should not have been left there," Minerva said, but her voice betrayed that she was not annoyed, she was both worried and sad.

 "I should have listened," Albus replied tiredly. "I know that now … but we must go to the Ministry now. They will have to commence a search for Harry, for we will have to return to Hogwarts to teach the students…" 

 "Really, should such a fuss be made over the boy?" Severus Snape spoke up for the first time.

 "You know what the prophesy says, Severus. That boy is needed."

 "But … The Dark Lord is gone. Surely that means that the prophesy has been fulfilled?"

 "No, Severus. The boy has been marked. The final battle yet waits. Harry Potter must be found, before it is to late. Sirius Black is still out there, and he will need to be caught. If he finds the boy …" Albus did not have to finish his sentence.

 "I will meet you back at the school, Headmaster. I would rather avoid the Ministry at this present time. You will understand, I'm sure. If the boy must be found, so be it. I would rather not have anything to do with him." The Potion Master disaparated.

 "Minerva?" Dumbledore asked.

 "I'll go back to the school too, I have a detention to oversee," Minerva replied, and followed the Potion Masters example, leaving Dumbledore alone for a moment, before he disaparated, with London in his mind.

***

Finis Chapter Two.

 I know that if you use a proper timeline of events, Mrs. Black – Sirius's mum – didn't die until 1985, and this story is set in 1981, but it's AU and therefore she is dead already, but only died about a year before the story takes place, so Kreacher isn't quite so batty as he should be … 

 Wow! I'm getting a really good response to this story! 85 reviews for only two chapters! Next chapter dedicated to reviewer number 100! I'll see you in two days with an update!

~WolfMoon~


	4. Moving

**_Chapter dedicated to Butler, my 100th reviewer!!_**

**__**

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Three: Moving

 It had been a month since Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort and gone missing somewhere in London. The wizarding papers had been covered with it just about every day since.

 But a month without any results? Black had not been sighted since he'd run away from the scene, the Ministry was in turmoil – the Minister had resigned, and Crouch's son had been arrested as a Death Eater. 

 The public was starting to think that not enough was being done to find their hero, or to catch Sirius Black, the arch-traitor.

 Tucked away in Grimmauld Place, Sirius and Harry were relatively undisturbed by the goings on. The Ministry had not found Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, however. The house had been carefully hidden.

 Kreacher had become completely devoted to Sirius's godson, something the older man was not completely able to understand. He'd seen Kreacher's devotion reach such heights for only one other person: His mother.

 "Master Harry will be getting hungry," Kreacher turned up suddenly beside Sirius, making the man start. 

 "Don't sneak up on me, will you?" he asked wearily.

 "Master Harry will be getting hungry," the house elf repeated.

 Sirius looked over at the crib that was set up not far from him. Harry was sitting upright, his green eyes wide. Harry rarely cried, only when he woke up from nightmares, which Sirius assumed where of the night that Harry's parents died.

 "Yes," Sirius agreed, walking over to the crib and lifting Harry gently out of it. "Kreacher, would you get his food?"

 Harry had moved on from milk to alternating baby food and milk. "Foo? Foo, Oot?" Harry gurgled.

 "Yes, Padfoot's got food for you," Sirius smiled gently at his godson. He would never do _anything to harm this boy, and he wouldn't let them be separated either._

 Kreacher appeared suddenly beside him with a bowl of baby food and a plastic spoon. "Shall Kreacher feed Master Harry?" the house elf asked, as he did every time it came to feeing Harry.

 Sirius however, would not relinquish this task. "No, Kreacher. I'm his godfather, I should do it," he replied. Though he did not trust the house elf, he had begun to at least like it a little bit over the last weeks.

 "Kreacher is sure Master Black knows what he is doing," the house elf said clearly, but Sirius heard him as he walked away, "Kreacher is also sure that Kreacher would do a better job …"

 "What was that?" Sirius asked sharply. "Do you think you know more about children than I do?" 

 "Kreacher would not presume to think himself better than Master Black," Kreacher called back, then muttered audibly, "though Kreacher dreads to think what his mistress would say if she knew her traitor son was back in her house …"

 Sirius sighed. "No point in telling Kreacher off, I suppose. He can't help it," he told Harry.

 "Eacher!" Harry replied enthusiastically.

 "Yes, Kreacher. Now say Padfoot!" Sirius teased his godson.

 "Ad'oot!" Harry replied, and shrieked with laughter as Sirius tickled him. "Ad'oot! Ad'oot!"

 "That's right, Padfoot. Can you say mum? Or dad?" Sirius always spoke to Harry about his parents. He didn't want his godson to believe that Sirius was his _father._

***

Far away in Hogwarts, a very different scene was unfolding. Cornelius Fudge, the newly elected Minister of Magic, was standing in Headmaster Dumbledore's office, along with several of the Hogwarts teachers.

 "Has there been any word?" Albus Dumbledore asked.

 "There has been nothing," Fudge said, angrily. "And it is starting to reflect upon the ministry. Everyone thinks that little Harry Potter should have been found by now. They will turn against the Ministry if something isn't done soon!"

 "Something like _what?" Albus demanded, eyes narrowing suspiciously._

 "We are going to have to come up with a body. It doesn't matter if it is Potter's or not, but really, if we haven't found him yet, we aren't going to!" Fudge replied.

 "Cornelius, that would be a very deceitful move. What would the Ministry do if the boy turned up?" Albus asked.

 "Admit that a blunder must have been made. Everyone will be too busy rejoicing to care that we'd made a mistake," Fudge replied promptly.

 "Minister! Your attitude towards this is not a good one! You are giving up a search on a defenceless baby, who may be, as we speak, in the hands of a murderer!" Minerva McGonagall's voice was sharp.

 "I cannot help that. The Ministry has other things to concern it, such as the location of other Death Eaters who remain at large!" Fudge snapped back.

 "Why are you hear telling us about this?" Albus Dumbledore demanded, his blue eyes losing their twinkle completely, hardening in anger.

 "Because you, Dumbledore, will know that something isn't right. I'm letting you now that I _don't want you to go interfering with anything that the Ministry is doing! If you do, I'm afraid I'll have to take drastic measures," Fudge stated, then crammed his hat on his head and walked out._

 Minerva and Severus turned to look at the headmaster. "Well, the Minister has spoken … But I will not give up hope just yet. We will keep searching, whenever we can. I have plenty of friends who will keep their ears open for news," Albus stated.

 "You aren't going to go against the Ministers command?" Severus Snape asked, as he'd had some experience with the headmaster before this.

 "No, not this time. Right now the magical world is coming out a period of great darkness, I must be here to guide the children through this. I cannot afford to lose the Ministry's cooperation at this point," Albus sighed. "Otherwise I wouldn't blink about it."

 Minerva sighed too. She just hoped that Harry would be ok. He couldn't be dead, he just _couldn't be_, she thought firmly, as if her thoughts could keep him alive.

***

 "Kreacher, you know that Harry and I won't be staying here forever, don't you?" Sirius asked the house elf. He wasn't sure _why he was talking to it as if it were a human being … But he was._

 "Kreacher will follow Master Harry anywhere!" the house replied, eyes narrowing.

 "No, Kreacher. Harry and I will be leaving here soon, we'll be leaving the country. I order you to remain in the house, see to the cleaning, pay no attention to my mother and speak to _no one at all_ about anything to do with myself, Harry, the Order of the Phoenix or any of that, is that clear?" Sirius replied, eyes flashing dangerous.

 "It is clear, Master Black," Kreacher replied. "Kreacher must do all he can to help Master Harry," he added, voice low.

 "Kreacher can help Master Harry by keeping his mouth shut and staying here. We'll be coming back sometime," Sirius said sharply.

 "Then Kreacher will take care of the house, for Master Harry," Kreacher replied. "He will make sure that everything is ready for the Master's return."

 Sirius somehow didn't think that the elf was referring to him as 'the master'. "Thank you," he said, as courteously as he could manage. "We'll be leaving very soon, as soon as Harry is ready to travel."

 Kreacher spent the next two days moping around the house.

 ***

 "Kreacher, we are going to leave before lunch today," Sirius stated. It was nearly a week after he'd informed the house elf that he and Harry would soon be leaving.

 He was amazed to see that Kreacher actually looked _upset at the thought. "Kreacher will take care of the house, for Master Harry," the house elf said, smiling into the sleeping Harry Potter's face. "Kreacher will make sure that no one hurts Master Harry when Master Harry returns."_

 Sirius resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At least the house elf wasn't grumbling about Sirius's way of doing things.

 Sirius hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should say something more to the elf. But he shook it off – he didn't even _like Kreacher. The house elf was merely useful to him._

 By lunch time, he and Harry were gone. Sirius knew exactly where he was going: The Potter Mansion.

 Mr. and Mrs. Potter, James's parents, had owned a house on an island. The island was unplotable, and was covered in more anti-Muggle charms than Hogwarts was. He and Harry would be safe there.

 The Ministry would never find it, not unless one of the Potter family told them how to get there. Now there was only Harry left of that blood, so no one would be able to find it.

 What about Pettigrew? He asked himself. James would have told Peter how to get there … Wouldn't he?

 Then Sirius remembered: No, James _hadn't_ told Peter how to get to the Potter Mansion. James had only ever told Sirius and Lily, of all his friends at Hogwarts.

 Sirius knew that James's parents would not have told anyone how to get there either, except for Dumbledore, perhaps. The Headmaster of Hogwarts was a good man … But Sirius would have to find a way to make sure Dumbledore never found him …

 "Ad'oot?" Harry gurgled as Sirius stepped towards the fire place. The boy was gripping Sirius's shirt tightly, and actually cried out when Sirius put the Floo Powder on the fire.

 "Hush Harry, it's ok," Sirius whispered, wondering what was wrong with Harry, since the baby was normally so placid, taking everything in stride.

 Then he realised. "It looks like Avada Kedavra …" he whispered aloud. But he had to get away from this house … had to get _Harry_ away … What was he going to do?

 "I'm sorry kid," he whispered, taking out his wand, Sirius performed a sleeping charm on Harry. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but he couldn't let Harry be scared.

 "The Potter Mansion!" Sirius cried, stepping into the fire. Besides Harry, Sirius had very little to take with him – he had James's invisibility cloak, a broomstick and his motor cycle, all shrunken in his pockets.

 He knew that mansion provided for those who came there. There were house-elves there, ones that weren't deranged like Kreacher was …

 A moment later he stepped out of the spinning fire place, into a huge chamber that seemed to be composed entirely of marble.

 The Potter's had been around for a long time, and so had this mansion. Sirius knew very well that the hall _was_ made out of marble. When he looked to his left, he saw the front doors, and to his right was a staircase. There were several other doors leading off the entrance hall.

 Sirius knew this place to be even _more_ confusing than Hogwarts was, which was very close to impossible. 

 "What is Master Black doing here?" A voice squeaked beside him. Sirius looked down to a see a dirty looking house elf looking back at him.

 "Master Black has brought Harry Potter to his home," Sirius replied, smiling at the elf. "I'm going to raise him here," he added.

 The elf looked positively ecstatic. "We has a Potter to serve!" it squeaked in delight, and promptly vanished with a crack. Sirius woke Harry up with another spell.

 "Excitable lot, house elves," he told his godson, who gurgled at him, Harry seemed to have forgotten his fear from before. 

 Then the air was filled with cracks, and seven house elves appeared. Sirius knew that the Potter's had always had a lot of house elves. They had the most of any non-public dwelling in Britain, from what he could remember.

 Only places like Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic had more.

 "Master Black has brought Master Harry Potter!" squeaked an elf. "But … We has been hearing _bad things about Master Black," there was confusing in the elf's innocent squeaks._

 "You have been hearing lies," Sirius replied gently, still cradling Harry. "I have been taking care of Harry until he was well enough to bring here."

 "We has heard you is helping killing Master Harry's parents," another elf stated.  

 "Again, lies. I trusted their safety to one who betrayed them, and led to their destruction. So, in a way, I suppose it is my fault."

 "Master Black didn't know," another elf stated. "It is not being Master Black's fault. We is happy that you has brought Master Harry Potter here. We is hearing tales about _him to, Sir."_

 "That he defeated the dark lord?" Sirius asked.

 "How is you guess, Sir?" the elf asked, sounding surprised.

 "Because those tales are true. Has anyone been here, looking for Harry yet?" Sirius replied.

 "Yes, Sir. Albus Dumbledore is coming here a week gone, Sir. He is saying that we should tell me if we is seeing Harry Potter Sir. Should we be sending Albus Dumbledore an owl, Sir?"

 "No," Sirius replied. "Albus Dumbledore will try and take Harry away from here. He believes the lies that are being told about me. He thinks it was me that betrayed Lily and James."

 "We is knowing you is not doing this, Sir. Why is Albus Dumbledore not knowing this also?" an elf asked him.

 "Because Albus Dumbledore does not know what else to believe. We told none that we were changing from one protector to another. The wizarding world was to believe that it was me that was given the knowledge of Lily and James's location … We changed to another at the last moment, hoping that the Dark Lord would come after me, little knowing it was his servant that we had trusted," Sirius replied.

 "We is believing you Sir. We is not going to tell anyone that you is here, or that Master Harry Potter is here either, Sir," the elves told him, speaking together perfectly.

 "You have my thanks," Sirius replied, but the elves waved it off.

 "We is only doing what Master would want, Sir," they told him.

 "I need you to ready some rooms for us," Sirius told them. "And someone to bring Harry food, he likes …"

 "We is knowing what Mater Harry Potter needs," an elf stated calmly, and the air was filled with cracks as the creatures went about their tasks.

 "Well, that went along well," Sirius remarked to no one, as he walked around the Potter Mansion with Harry cradled in his arms.

***

Look, no cliffie! *points proudly to the end of the chapter* I'm getting better … I think. Ok, I'm going to have birthday breakfast (it's mum's bday) cya!

~WolfMoon~


	5. Settling In

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Four: Settling In

 "How did you hear about what happened with Lily and James?" Sirius asked one of the house elves, a female by the name of Kiby.

 "We is getting the Daily Prophet delivered Sir," the house elf replied, bobbing a curtsey. "We is always getting the Prophet, Master Potter made sure of that!"

 "Could you bring me the ones that have arrived since the dark lord fell?" Sirius asked, knowing that if he used the word _Voldemort, the house elf would panic completely._

 "Kiby is going now, sir! Kiby is being right back!" the elf squeaked in reply, disappearing with a muted crack.

 Harry was lying in a crib by Sirius's side, asleep. He was the only family left, the house elves all served Harry now … Sirius knew that the house elves needn't obey any of his orders, because it was only Harry who could really command them … But they did anyway.

 If they'd been Kreacher … Well, he didn't want to think about that. Suddenly Kiby turned up again, a giant pile of papers in her arms. Sirius hurried forward to relieve her of them. 

 "Here you is being, Sir. All of the papers since You-Know-Who left," she told him, somewhat breathless.

 "Kiby, you could have asked for help bringing those," Sirius told her.

 "Kiby is not needing help, Sir. Kiby is being fine on her own! Kiby is going to the kitchens now, to help make Master's dinner!" then she was gone, before Sirius could say anything else.

 Sirius sighed, then looked at the papers. Headlines flashed before his eyes, bits of stories, but he didn't really want to _read_ any of them.

 _Harry Potter saves the world from 'You-Know-Who'… Harry Potter disappears from relatives house … No information released … No word of Harry Potter … Sirius Black still at large … Harry Potter found dead … Sirius had flicked to a different paper before he even realised what it was he'd read last. With a curse, he flicked back to read the article._

 _Yesterday, the Ministry found the body of a one year old child. It has been released that this might be Harry Potter, the wizarding worlds saviour, who disappeared several months ago._

_ Since his disappearance, the Ministry has been searching diligently for Harry Potter, but until this, there has been no word. Can the Ministry be trusted? Or are they covering up? _

_ The public has been listening eagerly for news of their hero. Has the Ministry given false evidence, to throw the public off scent? To make us believe that our hero is dead, but really, the Ministry is simply being incompetent, and cannot find anything?_

"Who wrote this?" Sirius wondered allowed. "Ah, of course, Rita Skeeter… I remember her from my own time at the Ministry, not content unless she's messing up someone's life." 

 Do I have any chance of convincing Remus that it wasn't me? Sirius wondered suddenly. With all of these articles, I doubt it … Besides, we never told him we were going to change to Peter. I'll have to catch Peter before _anyone will believe me. But how do you find a specific rat, when the world is contaminated by them?_

 "So what are you going to do to the Dursley's? Abandoning children is against the law, unless its to an orphanage!" Minerva's voice rose to a near shriek as she passed Albus Dumbledore's office.

 "But only wizards could prove they were lying when they say that they never found Harry," Albus said heavily. "And the Ministry does not permit us to step in when it comes to Muggle law … not after what Lord Voldemort did." 

 Minerva flinched at the name, even though the dark lord had not been seen for the past three months. "But surely there is something?"

 "Nothing within the law," Albus Dumbledore said heavily. "But they will be punished, somehow, someday. They will pay for the wrong they did to Harry Potter."

 His voice was low and terrible, if Minerva had believed in what she classed as 'divination nonsense' she might have thought he was making a prophesy. As it was, his words struck some cord in her.   
 "Really?" Severus Snape's voice was soft and cold. "And how will that be, pray?" 

 "I know not … Perhaps by some Death Eater's hand will justice be delivered," Albus shrugged.

 "How do you mean?" Minerva asked, puzzled. Albus had placed wards on the Dursley's house to prevent anyone who wore the dark mark from entering. "The wards would stop them, wouldn't they?" 

 "The wards would have been activated by them accepting Harry," Albus replied. "Until they do, any Death Eater will be free to walk into their house and kill them all."

 Minerva felt a cold smile playing at her lips. She normally disapproved greatly of any Death Eater action, and would _never support the vile people, but … For the Dursley's, perhaps a Death Eaters attention would not be so wrong …_

 She shook her head, not allowing herself to think such thoughts.

***One and a half years later***

 Sirius smiled down at his godson. At just over two years of age, Harry was both walking and running. His raven-wing black hair had a silky look to it, hanging to his shoulders and slightly mussed.

 At the moment, Harry was sitting on Sirius's lap, and Sirius was reading to him from 'A Quidditch Story' the tale of a young boy who wanted to be a Quidditch star, and wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to achieve his goal.

 "Padfoot?" the boy enquired, twisting to look up that man, when Sirius stopped reading. Sirius shook his head and smiled, turning a page in the book and opening his mouth to kept speaking.

 Harry smiled happily, attention once more riveted on the book, eyes taking in the moving drawings, chubby babies hands running lightly over the page. 

 "Quidditch!" he said excitedly, pointing to the word. It was one of the few words that Harry could recognise, when it was written down.

 "That's right Harry, Quidditch. Your father used to play Quidditch."

 Immediately the book was forgotten. "Daddy? Tell me 'bout daddy," the child said.

 Even though he was only just over two years old, Harry had picked up on talking very fast, and for all his small vocabulary, the words he knew he could usually speak perfectly.

 "What do you say?" Sirius teased, smiling.

 "Tell me _about_ daddy _please_," the child replied, rolling his eyes off to one side.

 Sirius roared with laughter, tickling Harry's side gently, and the boy howled also. When they'd both calmed down, Harry twisted to look up at Sirius again. "Please?" he repeated.

 "Alright kid. Once, there was a handsome, popular young man, who could have any girl he wanted, save for one … and a beautiful young woman, who was the only one that young man could not win over with flowered words and pretty smiles … Their names were Lily Evans and James Potter."

 "Mummy and daddy?" Harry asked.

 "Yeah kid, mummy and daddy," Sirius agreed. "Anyway, James fell in love with Lily, the one girl he couldn't have, the one girl who hated him more than life itself …"

 Harry loved hearing about his parents, though he often cried because he'd never gotten to know them. Sirius cried too, for the friends he'd lost, and the godson he had to raise.

 Sirius made sure that Harry knew what great people his parents had been. When the boy was older, Sirius would tell him of his parents faults.

 Sirius had told this story many times before, but as far as Harry was concerned, he could be told it ten times a day and would not become bored of it.

 Soon enough the tale was over. "Quidditch?" Harry asked now.

 Sirius laughed. "Oh alright," he said, and stood up, lifting Harry with him. The boy laughed and demanded to be put down.

 Once he was set on his feet, Harry was off, running swiftly forward on light feet. He hated moving slowly, and this had quickly prompted him to learn first to walk and then to run.

 Sirius knew that Harry could easily fall over, he also knew that he shouldn't coddle the boy too much – he should let Harry learn from mistakes.

 In a little while, he'd start teaching Harry ways to fall properly, so that when he tripped – as he did often – he wouldn't hurt himself too much.

 Outside, the Grounds-Elf, an older male house-elf by the name of Lub, was waiting with Harry's broom. This was smaller than Sirius's own broom, and had a hight restriction of one metre.

 Harry was a natural, Sirius thought with a father pride, watching as his godson mounted the broom, somewhat clumsily. For a two year old, the boy was good. He'd only just started being allowed to fly on his own, up till a month ago, Harry had rode in front of Sirius.

 Harry could now take off, land and swerve around the lawns, somewhat manically. By the look of him, Sirius thought, the boy would be a Seeker. You never could tell, of course, but it seemed likely.

***Half a Year Later***

 Sirius smiled down at Harry. It was the boy's third birthday. "Hello kiddo!" Sirius greeted his godson.

 "Good morning Mr. Black," Harry said, his voice a perfect imitation of the man who read the news report on the wizard wireless.

 Sirius laughed, and do did Harry. Harry might not get the joke, but laughing was fun, and if Sirius was laughing, then Harry would too. "Happy birthday!" Sirius added, swooping down suddenly to lift Harry high into the air and swing him around.

 Harry shrieked with laughter. "Happy birthday," Sirius said to his godson again. "I've got you some presents."

 "Can I open them? Please, Padfoot? Please, please say I can open them!" Harry begged, looking up at his godfather through wide, green eyes.

 Sirius laughed. "Who could say no to a face like that? But you have to eat breakfast first."

 Harry's face fell slightly. "What's for breakfast?" he asked.

 "Whatever you want, but not cake," Sirius replied. "Cake is for later."

 "Pancakes," Harry said decisively. "I want pancakes please!"

 Sirius watched his godson, smiling almost sadly as he did so. This was the boy who would have to become the wizarding worlds hero. Sirius was not supposed to know what the prophecy said, but Lily and James had ended up telling him of it anyway.

 That meant that he, Sirius, would have to raise Harry with this in mind. Harry would have to be able to fight, but he would have to be loved, and know how to love others as well. At least the poor kid wouldn't be stuck with the Dursley's this way.

 Harry wolfed his way through the pancakes at warp speed, and Sirius laughed as his godson's eagerness to get to the presents. "Hold up kiddo, the presents aren't going to run away on you!" he told the boy, who grinned at him around a mouthful of pancakes. 

 Managing to swallow, Harry said, "I know, but that doesn't mean something won't happen to mean that I _can't open the presents!"_

 Sirius grinned. "Come on then. You've eaten enough, we can come back to this later. We'll go and get your presents now shall we. D'you want me to me carry you?" 

 "No!" Harry said, adamant. "I fly!"

 "Ok, we're going to the inside garden then," Sirius said, grinning as Harry scrambled onto his Cleansweep five, one of the better brooms of the time, and set himself perfectly, just as Sirius had taught him.

 Gripping the broomstick, Harry leant forwards and shot across the room, down the hallway. Sirius shifted form, and a moment later a giant black dog was hurtling after the broomstick, barking happily.

 A few minutes later the pair of them reached the centre of the sprawling mansion, which was a huge, indoor garden, with an overhead ceiling spelled as the Hogwarts Great Hall was to reflect the sky outside.

 Inside the garden, the weather could be changed to just about anything, from sunshine to rain, from heat to winters heart, from gentle breeze to hurricane.

 Today, Sirius had gone ahead already and preset the garden to a gentle midsummer day, pleasantly warm with a gentle breeze. Harry might be too young to fully appreciate the weather, but it was nice anyway.

 "Never a rainy day unless we want it to be," Sirius mused aloud, returning to his human form, though he knew that Harry wouldn't understand what was being said, apart from the words.

 "Presents?" Harry asked, turning to look at his godfather.

 "Yes Harry, presents," Sirius agreed, smiling gently down on the boy. "Here," he added, handing the boy the first of many gifts that he had managed to get, mostly via owl post, or sending the house elves to shop for him.

 With mounting delight, Harry opened gifts of toys, the usual things a young boy would like – broom sticks, stuffed toys, a little magical guitar that played music, moving posters of Quidditch players.

 Harry opened each present with relish, delighting in the gifts that his godfather showered upon him.

 Sirius soon left Harry to his own devices, playing with his new toys in the garden. He knew that there would be a house elf somewhere close by if Harry hurt himself in any way.

 He headed towards the duelling rooms – the Potter mansion literally had _everything_, from libraries to duelling rooms, small out of the way sitting rooms and huge places were hundreds of people could be easily accommodated.

 There was even a Room of Requirement, one of only two of its kind in existence, the other one being at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 Sirius was determined to keep up his practice as a dueller – he'd been an Auror before the warrant for his arrest had been issued, and there was no way that he was going to let himself get sloppy.

 "Besides," he murmured to himself. "You have to teach Harry all this stuff sometime, and it won't do if you've forgotten half of it yourself!"

 Far away from the Potter mansion, a white rat with red eyes and a single missing toe on it's front paw scuttled across the drive way at the Burrow.

 Outside, a young boy was playing with a broken-looking toy broomstick.

 Had he been in human form, Peter Pettigrew might have smiled – _perfect_. A wizarding house! From here, he could keep an ear out for news of his master, Lord Voldemort, and live an easily life.

 Not liking the idea, but knowing it was necessary, he made his way over to the young boy, who immediately seized the rat, which was much more interesting than broomsticks to play with!

 With an inaudible sigh, Peter, who would hence be known as 'Scabbers' allowed young Percival Weasley to 'play' with him, writhing free of the boys clutching hands if he was hurt too much.

 Here, in disguise, he could wait for something to happen. He knew that Sirius was still on the loose, and he knew that if his 'friend' caught up with him, Peter would be in Azkaban and Sirius would be completely free …

 No, in disguise and being the pet of a family of wizards was far better than being dead at the hands of Death Eaters, who thought he'd betrayed them, or Azkaban because Sirius, who _knew he'd betrayed the Potters, had managed to get hold of him._

 Peter squeaked loudly as the boy pulled his tail. This was going to be a_ long_ few years.

***

 Well, that wasn't really a cliffie either! Wow, this is amazing! I'm not using cliffies much any more!!

~WolfMoon~


	6. School

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Five: School

 "But Sirius! Why do I have to go to school?" five year old Harry Potter whined at his godfather, as they stood at the front door of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

 "Because you need to have a proper education," Sirius replied sternly. "Now, what's your name?"

 Harry rolled his eyes and replied, "Feon Evans," he replied, his voice taking on an Irish accent. "And you are my dog, Snuffles."

 "Good," Sirius said, examining his godson critically. Good, no one would recognise the boy. Black hair had been replaced with dark brown, and green eyes were now grey. The tell-tale lightning bolt scar had been hidden by some concealing cream.

 Not that anyone would recognise Harry Potter anyway, these days. After all, the boy had been missing for the past four years, and the Ministry had told everyone he was dead … But you never could be too careful.

 "Where are you going after you've dropped me at school?" Harry asked suddenly.

 "I'll be hanging around near by, to make sure you don't get into any trouble," Sirius replied, smiling slightly.

 "But I'll be good!" Harry said, grinning, though he knew that Sirius meant a different type of trouble.

 "You'd better not be! You're my godson, which means you should be getting in lots of trouble," Sirius replied jokingly. "Alright, come on, we'd better get going," Sirius decided, shifting form.

 Well used to this phenomenon, Harry just walked down the steps of Grimmauld Place, then turned to wave a small hand at Kreacher. The house elf was watching them leave from just inside.

 Kreacher's face split into a wide smile and he waved back at the boy who had, to all appearances, won his heart, although Sirius would have said that the elf didn't have a heart to win.

 Harry was nervous. Apart from Sirius, he hadn't met another human in four years now. He was comfortable with the house-elves and Sirius, but where other people like?

 He'd heard from Sirius about how the Ministry had betrayed his godfather, believing him to be a Death Eater. Were all people like that?

 No, they couldn't be. Sirius had said that his parents were good people, and that so was Remus Lupin, even though _he_ was a werewolf.

 But Sirius had also said that everyone thought Peter Pettigrew was a good person, but then he'd turned out to be bad.

 How could you tell a good person from a bad one? The five year old wondered. If _Sirius could make a mistake, and think that a bad person was a good one, everyone must be able to._

 A typical five year old, the boy was convinced that Sirius could do no wrong, and that nothing Sirius said could _possibly_ not be true.

 Walking beside the dog that was actually bigger than he was, Harry was given a wide birth by some of the passers-by, whom he was watching inquisitively.

 There were lots of people, Harry realised. Loads of them, in fact. Living with Sirius in the Potter mansion, he'd wondered if most of them had died out or something, since he hadn't actually seen any of them.

 He was somewhat surprised to learn this was _not _the case. If anything, humans seemed to be flourishing.

 For a five year old, Harry was a little more intelligent than average – he'd been able to write his name for a whole two and a half years now, and could read simple books, thanks to Sirius's and the house elves careful tuition over the past few years.

 Walking beside his godson – towering over the boy – Sirius watched with dislike as people cowered away. Why did people have to be so afraid of different things?

 He looked down at his godson. Harry obviously noticed nothing wrong – why should he, when he had nothing else to compare this behaviour to?

 Sirius had decided that Harry should go to a Muggle school because his godson needed to meet people, learn how they acted, and how he should interact with them.

 He knew that Harry didn't like the idea of being parted from him for long, but Sirius had decided it was necessary, and he knew that one day, Harry would thank him for it… And so would the rest of the world.

 The school came into sight ahead. Cast iron gates bared the entrance, and over them was the name "Uppchurch Elementary". Sirius whined softly, and Harry turned to him.

 "You're not coming any further?" Harry asked. Sirius shook his head slightly and turned, heading towards a little alleyway, and then looking back at Harry.

 "You want me to come?" Harry asked, and Sirius nodded. Harry hurried after the dog immediately.

 In the alleyway, hidden from view, Sirius resumed human shape, and quickly created a mirror to examine his own appearance. Wearing Muggle jeans and shirt, with his hair cropped very short –he'd always preferred it long- Sirius knew that if a wizard saw him, he was unlikely to be recognised.

 "I have to come in and make sure you are settled," Sirius explained. "And remember, my name is?" 

 "Lewis Evans," Harry replied dutifully.

 "Good, come on then," Sirius led his godson into the school yard. There were children playing, and most of them stopped to look at the new kid.

 Harry clung tightly to Sirius's hand, clearly not liking being looked at by so many people. Sirius squeezed back reassuringly.

 "Be proud kid," he muttered out of the side of his mouth. 

 Harry immediately squared his shoulders and stood up straight, looking around him with a challenging green stare. He wasn't afraid of these people.

 "Ah, you must be Mr. Evans, and this is little Feon?" a fawning woman's voice came from behind them. Sirius turned quickly, and so did Harry.

 Standing beside them was a middle-aged woman with a happy smile and mousy-brown hair. "Yes, that's us," Sirius said, speaking in a light Irish lilt.

 "Oh! Aren't you adorable?" the woman cooed, crouching so that she was at Harry's level to address the boy.

 Harry gave her a surprised look, but then held out his hand, to shake hers. Surprised, the woman gave him her own hand. "Good morning Miss," Harry said, smiling brightly.

 "So well mannered! My name's Holly, so please, call me that!" the woman – Holly – said. "Mr. Evans? You'll have to sign some forms in the Headmaster's office."

 The bubbly woman led the way into the school, chattering the whole way. Sirius continually felt the urge to raise a hand to check his ears, which _had to be aching from the sound that was assaulting them._

 Finally they arrived. "I'll be taking Feon with me, shall I?" the woman asked.

 "If you must," Sirius replied stiffly. "But he grew up away from other children, so just be careful of that, will you?"  
 "Of course Mr. Evans!" the woman replied cheerily, steering Harry away from his godfather.

 Harry cast one look, filled with longing, back in his godfather's direction, but Sirius had already disappeared inside the headmasters office. Harry knew he'd not see Sirius until that afternoon when he could go home. The five year old found himself filled with a wish that he could speed up time.

 "A bit shy are you?" Holly asked brightly. "Well, I won't introduce you to too many of the kids just yet then, don't want to overwhelm you. Come and make some play dough with these kids."

 Harry ventured closer to a table where some other people, who looked about his age, where playing with a malleable substance he hadn't come across before.

 One of them was trying to eat it, Harry realised. He wondered if this was what you were supposed to do with this stuff, but the woman, Holly, hurried over to the boy who was eating it. "No, no Harvey!" she scolded gently. "Not for eating. Not for eating."

 She spoke as if the boy was really thick, Harry noted, and wondered why. Maybe other people, people that weren't him and Sirius, were thick.

 He certainly didn't consider himself the odd one in this group – the rest of them were just not like him. _They_ were all odd ones. "What do you do with this?" Harry enquired.

 "Why, you make shapes and things," Holly replied, smiling widely down at him.

 Harry was unsure how this would help anything, especially since schools were where you _learned_ things. "Aren't we supposed to learn stuff here?" He asked doubtfully.

 "Yes, of course. But it isn't time to start learning yet. Enjoy the free time you have," Holly advised him.

 Harry sat down slowly at the table with the 'play dough' on it, and picked some of it up. He wondered what to make, and his mind settled on a broomstick. That would be easy.

 Taking some of the play dough, he settled down, ignoring the other students, he fiddled with this odd stuff called _play dough._

 Harry remembered that Sirius had told him this was a _Muggle_ school, therefore there was no magic things, and he wouldn't be able to talk about _Quidditch. Harry wondered what he was supposed to talk to these people about, if he could talk about Quidditch._

 Suddenly a loud bell rang. Harry blinked and looked around. Most of the younger people were running in every direction. Harry sat still, not knowing where he was supposed to go.

 "Come on, Feon," Holly was back. "Your classroom is this way."

 Harry stood up, frowning slightly at the play dough stuff that he'd been trying to make into a broomstick. It didn't look much like one, Harry decided critically. Oh well, maybe he'd be able to finish it later.

 Holly offered a hand, and, after a moment's consideration, Harry took it, allowing the woman to lead him away towards a classroom. Holly stopped outside a door, and Harry looked within and saw _lots of children inside._

 He suddenly didn't want to go inside. He was nervous, he didn't like that there were so many people. After all, before this morning, he'd only know himself and Sirius.

"Come on," Holly smiled encouragingly at him. "It'll be fun, I promise."

 Harry was doubtful, but remembered that Sirius had wanted him to come here. If Sirius wanted it, then it must be ok. His father had gone to school, a new thought came suddenly. His father had had fun at the school called Hogwarts.

 With this in mind, Harry squared his small shoulders and walked into the class beside Holly. Everyone turned to look at them, and Harry felt like ducking back out of the room again.

 "Professor Cambill, this is Feon Evans, he'll be joining the class," Holly said, smiling at that man, who looked about Sirius's age and hight, and who was standing at the front of the room.

 "A new student, is it?" the man asked, and his voice had a cheery note, again reminding Harry of Sirius. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all. Harry nodded shyly.

 "Well come in and sit down then. We were just going to start some writing practice," the man, Professor Cambill, stated.

 "I think that's all I'll be needed for. I'll come and pick up Feon after class," Holly said, before she left the classroom, leaving Harry in a room full of strangers.

 "You come and sit over here in the back row," the teacher said, smiling encouragingly. Harry made his way slowly across to the seat that had been indicated, and slipped into it.

 Professor Cambill walked around the class, setting sheets of paper on everyone's desks. He paused to give Harry an encouraging smile as he passed. Harry returned the smile.

 Back at the front of the class room, the teacher turned to the black board. Harry watched with interest as the man sketched letters on the board, the entire alphabet, in capital letters and in lowercase. 

 "For now, I want you to practice writing those, try and get the form right, then write a few words down, I'll come around and make sure you're writing the letters properly.

 Looking down at his lined paper, Harry made a face. Sirius had taught him this _ages_ ago. He'd been able to write his name, and Quidditch, since he was three and a half, and he'd been writing proper words for half a year now.

 Resentfully, Harry wrote the letters down, using a Muggle pen. It was very different to write with than quills were, but Sirius had insisted that he learn to write with both.

 Suddenly Professor Cambill was standing over Harry's shoulder. "Let me see your work please, Feon," the man asked. Harry shoved his paper in the other mans direction.

 "This is very good," Cambill stated slowly, sounding surprised. "I suppose you've been writing for a while?"

 "Si-Lewis taught me when I was three and a half," Harry replied, trying to sound polite. Didn't _everyone learn this stuff then?_

 "Did he now? There's not that many people who actually teach their children to write these days. Most often it's left to the schools. Well, you have a very good hand, Feon. You won't be needing any more practice at this. Have you been taught to do write in running script?"

 Harry shook his head no. "Ok, I'll get you some sheets that show how letters are joined together, and you can start practicing that," Cambill said, moving away.

 A few moments he was back, with the said sheets. "Here, see if you can work those out on your own, if not, signal me with a raised hand," Cambill told Harry, already moving away.

 Harry turned his attention to the sheets and made a face again. The letters were so _big_ – just like the lines on the paper had been. Harry could write much smaller than that.

 Slowly, he traced his pen over the letters on the sheets. He liked the flowing motion of the pen when it didn't have to come away from the paper. _Abcd_, he traced on the paper, then went back to the paper previously provided. He wrote this again, in 'running script' as the teacher had named it, on the paper, and was a little dismayed by the messier response.

 Why won't it work right? He wondered. Should try again, I guess, another thought came after a moment. With this thought firmly in place, Harry went back to writing this 'running script'.

 Slowly, he was improving, he decided after a few more attempts. "Good Feon! You are quick to pick up on this!" Cambill said warmly on his next time round the classroom. "The rest of the class will be starting on this in about half an hour, until then, you can practice, if you want to, or just sit quietly."

 Neither, Harry decided, sounded that interesting. He ended up practicing – sitting still was much too difficult.

 Finally, the teacher moved on to writing in running script on the blackboard, and giving them combinations of letters to join together. Harry found this a little more interesting than sheets had been, but not much.

 Suddenly the bell went again. Harry jumped slightly – the bell was loud. His ears, though he did not know it, were overly sensitive, thanks to the life he'd lived up until now.

 He did not know that most children did not spend their time creeping around trying to startle their parents, or that most children's parents didn't sneak around trying to play pranks on them.

 At least, not the extent that he and Sirius did.

 Holly turned up at the door again. "Feon, come on. Next class is maths," she said. Harry got up and dutifully followed her, hoping that the next class would be a little more interesting than the one he had just left.

 Maths, it turned out, was not. The teacher was showing them the signs of minus and plus, and how they were used … Never on numbers over ten. Harry spent the lesson writing things such as '1+2=3' which he knew some of already. He also knew most the two times table, up until eleven anyway.

 Though Harry didn't really pick up on it, the students in his class were looking at him with dislike in their eyes. This new boy was far ahead of them in terms of learning, it seemed, and they didn't like it.

 Lunch time, when it came, was as difficult as the lessons were, in some ways. Some of the people in Harry's classes had older siblings, who they ran to, telling them that the boy with glasses was a stuck up little prat who knew everything.

 "Hey, you!" Harry heard a voice from behind him. Not realising that it was addressing me, he walked on, looking around this odd new place, with people and _cars, and lots of loud noises._

 Suddenly a hand caught his shoulder and yanked him around. Harry was now facing some five older kids who looked at him distastefully. It was the exact same expression that house elf and master wore when Sirius in the same room as Kreacher.

 Harry didn't like this. The older boys looked scary. "Hey, you!" One of the sneered at him. "Think your smart, do ya?"

 Harry frowned slightly, looking up at the older boys. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully, trying to understand the situation.

 "Whadaya mean whatawe mean?" another snarled, mean eyes narrowing.

 "I mean, what do you mean, I think I'm smart?" Harry asked again, patiently.

 "You cheeking us?" a third demanded. 

 "Cheeking?" Harry inquired, wondering what this meant.

 One of the boys raised a hand to punch Harry in the side of the head, but Harry, having watched Sirius practicing fighting, saw immediately what was coming, did the first thing that came to him:

 Dropped to the ground as the fist whistled past him, and _yelled_ as loudly as possible. Holly appeared immediately, running to see what the matter was. When she saw the five older boys menacing her young charge, Holly's temper flared up.

 While she was a cheery, chatting person normally, Holly _did_ have a very formidable temper, when someone could do enough to make her unleash it.

 "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her voice suddenly dripping icicles as she stared at the would-be bullies, freezing them with her glare.

 "We … we … uh … that is …" stuttered one of them.

 "I hope you weren't trying to hurt this young man," she said. "What was going on Feon?"

 "He said something funny," Harry replied. "He asked if I 'thought I was smart'. I didn't understand what he was talking about, but when I asked, he," he pointed to one of the boys, "tried to hit me. I dropped and yelled."

 His sounded as earnest and naïve as only a five year old can be.

 "Well, we can't have _that going on here. We are respectable school which has __no tolerance for bullies," Holly said. "Come on Feon, and you lot to, we'll go and see the Headmaster, he'll deal with you lot."_

 Harry listened to the headmaster, a stout, middle aged man who looked, Harry thought privately, like a Santa Clause, as he vented his spleen over the bullies.

 Harry cowered back a little. He was fairly sure that Santa Clause wouldn't be shouting so loudly and angrily, however. "Come on Feon, we'll get you out of here," Holly said. "Such a horrible thing to happen on your first day. Would you like to go back home, and recover a bit?"

 Harry nodded immediately. He'd like nothing more than to leave this place – it was scary. He'd nearly gotten hurt, and he _still didn't understand __why those boys had been doing that._

 "Well try and get in touch with your guardian, Lewis Evans, wasn't it?" Holly said.

 "You don't need to, he's over there," Harry pointed. Sirius was indeed walking over towards them.

 "Hi there, Holly, wasn't it? Since it's lunch time, I thought I'd drop by and see how Feon was adjusting – like I said, he hasn't been around this many people in a _long_ time," Sirius said.

 "Oh, I'm very sorry, Mr. Evans. It seems that a few of our older students took it upon themselves to try and bully your godson … The Headmaster is dealing with them presently. I assure you, we don't uphold any form of bullying – I'd be surprised if the boys weren't suspended, if only for a little while," Holly babbled. "We were just about to ring you to come and get Feon – I thought it would be best for him to go home and recover a bit."

 "Yes, yes, I think that would be best. I'll bring him back in a few days and see how things go then," Sirius said. "I do hope that the ones responsible for this are duly punished!"

 "I'll inform you of their punishment the next time I see you, Mr. Evans. I assure you, when Feon comes back to school, I'll keep by him and make sure no one else tries anything!" Holly said.

 "Thank you. We'll see you in a few days," Sirius said, swinging Harry up to hug him briefly. "Come on kid, let's get you home."

 "I don't think I like school," Harry remarked.

 "What don't you like about it?" Sirius asked reasonably.

 "They're only just learning to _write," Harry complained. "It's boring. And the other kids look at me like Kreacher looks at you."_

  Sirius stifled a laugh. "They mustn't like you much," he remarked.

 "Why not?" Harry wanted to know.

 "Because you're new, you're different, you aren't like them … People have a habit of picking on those who are different."

 "I don't think I like people," Harry remarked doubtfully.

 "Of course you do! I'm a person, and so were your parents," Sirius laughed. "But there are good people, and there are bad ones, and there are those who are neither, just don't know what they are doing with themselves."

 "Like Snivellus?" Harry asked.

 "Yeah, just like Snivellus," Sirius said, smiling at his godson. "Come on, at home I'll show you some things you can do to people who are trying to hurt you."

***

Well, I'll end off there, this chapter is already longer than most in this story, and all of the In Every Darkness chapters. 3700 words! That's pretty good, huh? Review please!

~WolfMoon~


	7. Growing Up

**_After the Dawn:_**

Chapter Six: Growing Up

Harry sat in the middle row of Edinburgh Elementary school. Now a proud six years old, he had matured a lot from the shy boy who had walked through the gates of Uppchurch Elementary school, hardly aware that there were any other people alive, save himself and Sirius.

 He half listened to the teacher for awhile, and realised that the man was still going on about decimal points and how to multiply them, before letting his mind wander again. He already _knew_ this.

 He thought back to his days at Uppchurch – how things had changed since then!

_"Hey, Evans," a voice sneered from behind Harry. It had been three months since Harry had started school at Uppchurch Elementary, and he was still being picked on by the older students, no matter how many times they were punished._

_ Harry didn't turn around. It wouldn't make any difference. He wished that he and Sirius had stayed at Potter mansion and never left to come to Muggle school._

_ He heard footsteps approaching and braced himself to run. It wasn't hard to hear his perusers, they were all big, heavy boys. But Harry's sharp ears suddenly heard something else – more footsteps, ahead of him, and to the side. _

_ He was surrounded._

_ Suddenly, from front, back and both sides, four people leapt at him. Harry yelled, a high pitched, fearful sound. He dropped to the ground, landing on his stomach and waited for pain._

_ When nothing happened, and he heard no sounds above him, Harry rolled onto his back and looked up. Above him, four huge boys were stuck, mid leap, nothing moving but their eyes, which showed white all around with terror._

_ There were sounds of screaming – the boys friends, who'd been guarding any ways of escape. They were running now, screaming loudly._

_ Suddenly a huge black dog raced down the street, stopping as he stood over Harry, Sirius transformed back to human, and the boy's who'd been about to beat Harry up looked more terrified still._

_ "Obliviate," Sirius murmured, pointing his wand at the four boys who remained frozen in the air over his godson. "Come on kid, we'd best get out of here."_

_ "I didn't mean to," Harry told his godfather, eyes wide as he looked at the boys he'd frozen._

_ "It's ok. It was good that you did that, in a way. Magic is your birthright, Harry, and you must learn to use it some how."_

_ "But won't they be hurt?" Harry asked, having to hurry to keep up with his godfather's strides._

_ "I doubt it, anyway, they were trying to hurt you," Sirius said. "You moved in self defence. Anyone in the magical community knows that younger children are not fully in control of their powers. Their powers are apt to explode when they feel strong emotions."_

_ "Oh. What are we doing now?"_

_ "We're leaving," Sirius replied. "It's not safe here – the Ministry won't know who did that, I wiped the minds of the boys back there, they won't remember anything. But the Ministry will be on the look out for someone with a very strong magical gift in this area. It's not safe for either of us, but especially for me."_

_ "Where are we going? Back to Potter Mansion?" Harry asked, hopeful._

_ "No, you still need to get an education. You also need to learn to get along with other people. You'll have to work with them in your life, on many different occasions. It's best you start learning to live with it now, rather than have it thrust upon you later. We'll go somewhere else._

 Since then, he and Sirius had moved four times, every one of them because Harry had used magic. Harry had been in this class, now going by the alias of Taylor Sarl, for just over three weeks.

 In this school, at least, he was felt more secure than he had in any of the others. He was stronger than average for his age, and tall. He was also fast, and Sirius had taught him several ways of blocking attacks, and more than one way of harming a bigger, stronger opponent.

 "Mr Sarl," the teachers voice intruded on Harry's thoughts, and the rest of the students in the class tittered a bit, seeing Taylor Sarl, the quiet new kid, getting in what might be trouble. 

 "Yes, sir?" Harry asked. He couldn't less whether he got in trouble or not, just as long as he was getting in trouble for something he did.

 "What is the answer to the question on the board?" Harry, who hadn't been paying any attention, glanced at the board, reading _9x7_, which he assumed was the question the teacher was talking about.

 He did the maths quickly in his mind then said, "sixty three, Sir."

 "Very good, Taylor," the teacher said, the glass glared at Harry. They'd been hoping to see someone get in trouble. Harry kept his face expressionless. He knew better than to try and make friends just yet. In a few weeks, the students would be more open to him … As long as he proved that he wasn't too stuck up.

 He'd learnt a lot in a year of switching schools and neighbourhoods every couple of months.

 The last bell for the day, and the term rang, and Harry walked out of school alone. He was always alone, Sirius didn't dare show his face too often in public. 

 Even though Harry's godfather looked different, Sirius wasn't going to risk being caught. Harry understood, to an extent, but it was awfully lonely, watching everyone else running to meet up with families, or join friends to walk home together. 

 For a moment, he wished he was like them. Happy and naïve, living life to the full and not having to worry about anything more than getting homework in on time.

 He shook his head slightly and turned down the street. He wouldn't give up Sirius for the world, and to live that happy, naïve life, he would have to.

 "Hey kid," Sirius greeted his godson with a hug just over five minutes later as Harry walked into the apartment that they were staying in now.

 "Hi Sirius," Harry hugged his godfather back. "What are we doing this afternoon?"

 "I enrolled you in a new Tae-Kwon Do class," Sirius replied. Harry had been enrolled in a class back in the old neighbourhood, but then they'd had to move when Harry set fire to the science labs because the teacher was going to try and get him suspended for playing with matches without permission.

 "Yes!" Harry cried, punching the air.

 Sirius laughed gently. "I had a feeling that might be your reaction. Change into your Gi and let's get going, it's just around the corner, there's a class of about ten, the Sensei said."

 Harry hurtled off, disappearing into his small room, and stagger out a moment later, struggling to change into his Gi at the same time. Laughing so hard he could hardly do anything to help, Sirius came over to help his godson, straightening out clothes and hunting out Harry's shoes.

 "Ok, all ready?" Sirius asked.

 The six year old nodded, and the pair of them headed out the door. "I hope this won't be like school," Harry muttered. He was always the outcast at school.

 "It won't be," Sirius promised. "I'll be there this time."

 Harry squeezed his godfathers hand with a small smile. "I know you will," he said. "You're always there for me."

 "Not always, unfortunately. I'm never there when you need me enough to use magic," Sirius pointed out.

 "That's not your fault," Harry replied with an expressive shrug. "It's in school. Parents aren't _supposed to come to school."_

 Sirius just ruffled his godson's hair. "Here we are," he said suddenly, steering the boy through a doorway into a long corridor. 

 "You would be the Sarl's, would you?" a voice asked from behind them, and they both spun around. A slim, middle aged man with reddish-brown hair and lively grey eyes stood behind him.

 "Yes, that's us," Sirius said, holding out a hand to shake. 

 "Call me Sensei," the man said, taking Sirius up on his offer of a handshake. "And this would be Taylor, would it?" Sensei asked, kneeling.

 "Yes," Harry said quietly, offering his own hand. Sensei shook hands with the boy briefly.  

 "Well, you've got a Gi, that's good. Come on, the class is down this way, you're a little early, but that's ok," Sensei said, sounding business like.

 Sirius walked with Harry and Sensei, analysing the new man through half closed eyes. His subject didn't seem too dangerous, despite being a fighting man.

 "May I stay and watch?" Sirius asked as Sensei let them into a large room.

 "If you want to. There are seats, for parents to sit and watch," Sensei replied, indicating them. "Take a seat, if you wish to, I'll see what your boy knows of this art."

 "He's only had a few lessons. We had to move not long after he started at the last place," Sirius called back. 

 "I'll keep that in mind."

 He tested a Harry a little, quickly discovering that the boy, though he had natural balance, hadn't learned all that much in Tae-Kwon Do.

 Soon the rest of the class arrived. There were several people that Harry knew by face, though not by name, from school. "This is the newest member of our class, Taylor," Sensei introduced them. Everyone gave a muted greeting.

 Well used to being disliked at first, Harry paid it no heed – he just wanted to get started. "Alright, what do we start with?" Sensei asked the class.

 "Stretches," they all chorused back, sounding utterly bored. Harry didn't blame them. Stretches _were boring as._

 One and a half hours later, Harry bounced from the class at Sirius's aside, full of enthusiasm. Sensei was a good teacher, and some of the kids were lightening up around him now.

 "How do you still have energy?" Sirius laughed. "Come on, we'd best go and find someplace to get dinner."

 Sirius was hopeless at cooking, Harry knew, much as it went against his morals to admit that there was anything about his godfather that was less than perfect.

 Every time they moved house, they had to look around them to find the best eating places, since they either ordered take away or went out dinner every night.

 Slipping his hand into Sirius's large one, Harry started off to hunt out food, both him and Sirius's using their noses (Sirius's was more useful, because he retained some of the dogs senses in human form).

 "Let's try here," Sirius murmured suddenly, stopping in front of a café. "It smells good."

 "Sure does," Harry agreed, sniffing the air delicately. "Good choice!" He walked inside immediately, leaving his godfather to follow with a smile.

 The café was small, but very cosy. Sirius looked around the inside of it, smiling. It was covered in red, orange and yellow colours, reminding the man of the Gryffindor Common Room, from days long since gone by.

 "I like it here," he murmured, hardly aware that he was speaking aloud. Harry glanced up at his godfather, and noticed that the man was wearing the same expression as he did when he thought of Harry's parents. The boy decided not to break his godfathers concentration, but silently lead the man to a table and picked up a menu, looking over it.

 Sirius shook his head slightly and picked up the other menu. A waitress appeared by their table. "Good evening Sirs," she greeted them. "Anything I can do for you?"

 "Um, yes, could I have a chicken sandwich, and a Vanillia milkshake, please?" Harry asked, smiling disarmingly, green eyes dancing behind wire-rimmed glasses.

 "Certainly, young Sir," the waitress replied, smiling back. "And you, Sir?"

 "A coffee and the soup of the day," Sirius said, contemplating the menu.

 "Coming right up!" She hurried off.

 "Well, how was your lesson?" Sirius asked.

 "Great!" Harry replied enthusiastically. "I loved it! I hope we don't have to move again any time soon, I like Sensei!"

 "I'm sure you do. You lot certainly looked like you were having fun," Sirius told his godson, ruffling the six year olds hair affectionately. "Well, I don't know if we'll be staying for long … If nothing else happened, we'd have to leave in a little over three years to get you to school," he added.

 "Well, that's not for over three years now!" Harry said, making the most of things. "I just hope _they don't come."_

 By _they, Harry meant the Ministry of Magic. He hated the Ministry with a passion, and had no trust in them whatsoever. He knew that, by Ministry decree, he was 'dead' and that is godfather was a Death Eater. He knew neither to be true, and blamed the Ministry solely for his frequent moves and the fact that he had to live life so carefully._

 Sirius and Harry ate their dinner in relative silence, every now and then speaking to each other, but for both of them, eating was a sacred task, and was normally performed in silence. 

 "Thank you, come again," the man at the counter said, smiling at Harry, who was grinning up at him with an adorable expression.

 Sirius and Harry walked out of the little café and into the night, returning to the small flat where they'd been living.

***

Far away from Edinburgh, early the next morning, Peter Pettigrew squeaked in terror and tried to scamper away. A shriek of childish laughter split the air and a large, sticky hand dropped down on his back, holding him tight.

 "Ok, we got him. What do we do now Fred?" George asked, as his twin tried hard to hold onto the struggling rat.

 "Uh … I know! Let's take him up to the attic! Mum won't see us there!" Fred replied, and the twins hurried off. 

 "Where are you going?" A young, female voice asked from behind. Five year old Ginny Weasley was watching her brother's suspiciously. "If you go anywhere _near_ my room, I'm calling mum."

 "We aren't Ginny. We've found Scabbers," Fred replied, showing his sister. She looked at the rat for a moment then turned to her brothers. 

 "As long as you don't put him my room."

 "We're taking him to the attic," George told her.

 "That's ok then."

 The five year old walked off unconcernedly. She didn't particularly like Percy either. Percy had started Hogwarts this year, but Ginny couldn't see _why he'd been invited. Who'd want to teach a stuffy old bore like Percy?_

 It was holidays now, and Percy was home, with Scabbers. Ginny looked after her brothers, almost tempted to ask if she could help them. But then she remembered, she was going over to Luna's today.

 The youngest Weasley child scuttled down the stairs to the kitchen, where her mother was cooking something. "Hello Ginny-love," Molly greeted her only girl child.

 "Hi mum, are we going to Luna's soon?" Ginny asked.

 "Yes, just as soon as I finish these cupcakes. We can take some with us," Molly replied. "Go and change clothes darling."

 Ginny sighed. She didn't have that many clothes, and none of them were _that_ good, so why did she always have to change into her best clothes whenever they went out? It didn't make sense to her, but she also knew better than to go against her mother's orders.

 Trotting upstairs, she saw Fred and George sneaking into their own rooms, with looks of smug mischievousness on their faces. For a moment, she thought about going to ask what they'd done to Scabbers, then the aroma of her mothers cooking wafted up to her, and she hurried to get changed to go to Luna's so she could eat some of the cupcakes.

 She glanced back once more, wishing that she could go and help her twin brothers cause more mischief, then shook her head and hurried back down to her mother.

 "Ok mum, I'm changed," she said. 

 "And the cupcakes are done. Let's go then dear," Molly took her daughters hand and let her from the house, it was a good ten minute walk to Luna's house.

***

 Up the attic, Peter cursed the day he'd chosen the Weasley household as his base. He'd thought it would be alright, living with one child… He hadn't realised that the Weasley's had another six children, making it seven he had to deal with in total. 

 Bill and Charlie were alright, they didn't have much time to pay attention to a younger brothers rat, but Fred and George … Peter shuddered. It was them that had brought him up here. They'd _borrowed_ Charlie's wand while the other was out playing Quidditch and cursed the attic so that Peter/Scabbers couldn't get out.

 Curse the girl, why hadn't she gotten her mother? Molly Weasley would have stopped this! Peter tried to snarl, but it came out as a pathetic squeak. He'd be locked in here until Percy missed him, and that might not be for days. He was _already_ hungry.

***

 "Harry! Rise and shine, the days hours begun!" Sirius yelled in his godson's ear.

 Harry groaned and shot up, wide awake. "Sirius! It's still _dark_ the day hasn't even started yet."

 "Yes it has. It's five in the morning, it's been today for five hours now kid! The sun getting up doesn't mean the days only just begun, kid. Come on, we can go and practice Quidditch like this!" Sirius replied boisterously.

 Forgetting sleep completely at the mere mention of the word _Quidditch_, Harry swung himself out of the bed, throwing on some clothes and reaching for his broom.

 Sirius laughed. "Ok, keep your voice down as we're going out, we don't want our flat mates to notice anything, as you know." Harry nodded obediently. He didn't care what he had to do, as long as he got to go flying. That was the main thing.

 Soon they were out of the flat, weaving down streets and alleyways, finally coming out onto a flat moore on the edge of town. Both immediately mounted their brooms and shot into the air, weaving around each other, heading up, up, up into the sky, then plummeting down to the ground.

 "I'm sure glad you took off that height restriction," Harry muttered to Sirius. It had been his godfather's main gift for Harry's fifth Christmas, about a year past.

 "So you've told me every time you've flying since," Sirius replied, laughing. "We'll be going back to Potter Mansion later today, I think, since Christmas holidays just started."

 "Oh! Yay!" Harry cried softly, mindful that he had to keep his voice down, at least a little bit. "Why?"

 "You'll find out when we get there. It's part of your Christmas present though," Sirius replied teasingly.

 "Oh, but!" Harry whined.

 "No but's, you'll find out when I decide to tell you," Sirius told Harry sternly. "Come on, the sun's getting up, it's time for us to get back to the flat, and then _home_." 

 Harry raced at the ground. For a moment, Sirius felt like his heart would stop with nerves, but he quickly recovered, knowing that Harry was _very_ good at diving.

 "Come on then, race you home!" Harry called quietly to his godfather, racing off with Sirius in hot pursuit.

***

That'll do, I think. Next chapter will be called Lessons, and might take three days, rather than two, because I'll be busy for most of tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll be updating. REVIEW PLEASE!!

~WolfMoon~


	8. Lessons

**_After the Dawn:_**

Chapter Seven: Lessons

 Harry walked in through the huge front doors of Potter Mansion. He and Sirius rarely got the chance to come back here, in fact, it had been four months since last he had since this place.

 "Home," he breathed, as Sirius came to stand over him.

 "That it is," the older man agreed.

 "Master Potter, Master Black! You is back!" A voice squeaked, and seven blurs of House Elves streaked over to throw themselves on the returning duo.

 "So we are," Sirius laughed. "Could you take our bags up please? We'll be staying for two weeks over Christmas."

 Amid the happy squeaks of the house elves, Harry and Sirius settled themselves in the place that they both called home.

 Soon Harry gave Sirius the slip and headed away into the house that had belonged to his family for generations beyond count.

 Pictures lined the walls, smiling witches and wizards who all turned to watched the Heir to their name walk through the halls. Harry walked almost silently, gazing reverently around him.

 "Psst, over here," a soft male voice haled him. Harry turned and hurried over to a life sized portrait of a tall man with black hair and friendly brown eyes.

 "Hello dad," Harry said shyly.

 "Hi there son. Come this way, I'll show you something," James said, smiling. "You haven't been to the secret library, have you?"

 "No," Harry replied, eager to see more of the house that would one day be his. At the moment it was really Sirius's, because Harry wasn't of age yet.

 "Come on then, I'll show you," James offered. Harry nodded eagerly and followed as his father walked out of his portrait. Winding through the Mansion, Harry came to places he'd never been before. 

 "There are many rooms in the Potter Mansion. It changes, sometimes, making some rooms into bedrooms when there are more people here, then changing them back to other things when the people leave," James explained. "I don't doubt that you'll soon know every nook and cranny!"

 Harry laughed. He'd met his parents portraits on a few occasions, but he never tired of spending time with them. Following his father with a cheerful smile, Harry wandered through the hallways until he was hopelessly lost.

 "Say 'Arae Potter'," James told his son. Harry obeyed, and a large section of the wall folded inwards. Harry walked inside, staring wide eyes around him. Bookshelves rose to a high vaulted ceiling, packed with books of every shape and size. 

 Harry turned to look for his father's portrait, but found it gone. The six year old shrugged. James did that sometimes. Walking through the huge bookshelves, Harry stared at the texts that varied in size and subject, some gory, some pleasant … 

 Until he found the huge tapestry. "_The Ancient And Most Nobel House of __Potter," it read at the top. So many people – it overwhelmed young Harry, the sheer amount of ancestors he saw there._

 Down at the very bottom, a gold line of embroidery linked _Lily Evans and _James_ __Potter, and then, beneath that a link of silver embroidery led to _Harry Potter_. Harry smiled slightly, his hand tracing those two links lovingly._

 "Kiby!" he called, realising he was lost. There was a crack and the desired elf appeared immediately beside him. 

 "What is Master Harry wanting?" the elf asked. "How is Kiby serving Master Harry?"

 "Not 'master' anything," the six year old said. "Just Harry. And I'm lost."

 "Follow Kiby, master!" the elf replied, ignoring Harry's words. They had not called him Master when he was younger, at his request, but a year ago, they'd started stubbornly refusing to call him anything other than Master.

 The elf led Harry easily back to the boy's room. "Kiby is being told by Mister Black that Master Harry is to meet him at the family living room at lunch time, Master Harry," Kiby said, before disappearing.

 It was still half an hour till the time Sirius wanted Harry to meet him, but, since he didn't have anything else to do, Harry went straight there.

 Ten minutes later he walked into the family living room – it was smaller than the living room that was used when guests were entertained. Sirius was there already.

 "Hello kiddo, where were you?" he asked.

 "Dad took me to the family library. There was a huge tapestry with all the Potters on it," Harry replied.

 "All of the oldest Wizarding families have one of those, they were created over one thousand years ago, when Hogwarts hadn't yet been built. There's only about … four left in existence. Yours, the Black family, the Malfoy family and the Crouch family. Those four are the oldest of the Wizarding families," Sirius replied. "I'd like to see it some time."

 "If I can find it again, I'll show you," Harry promised. "What did you want me for?"

 "It's time you learned to use magic," Sirius replied, smiling slightly at the ecstatic look on Harry's face. "I've got your fathers wand here, you can use that."

 "How did you find his wand?" Harry asked. "Didn't he have it with him when Voldemort attacked?"

 "Yes, he did. Before I went after Peter, I found your parents, and their wands, and brought them back here to be buried in the family tomb. I kept the wands, because James told me to," Sirius replied. "It's probably not a perfect match, but for the moment, it will have to do."

 He pointed to the table, where the wand lay, its wood shining faintly. Harry walked over to the table and lifted the wand reverently. He could feel … _something … teasing at his fingertips, tugging at his mind, but he couldn't quite place it. The wand felt __wrong, somehow, in his hand._

 "It doesn't feel right," he told Sirius. 

 "I'd hoped you wouldn't say that," Sirius sighed. "Oh well, I'm sure it'll be good enough to try with for the moment… Or do you want to try your mother's wand?"

 Harry thought for a moment. "Try mums," he replied.

 "This way, it's in my room," Sirius said, taking Harry's hand and leading him from the room. Harry followed happily. He knew that it was annoying Sirius a little, but he wanted to see what his mums wand felt like.

 Soon enough they reached Sirius's room, which was only a few doors down from the small room that had been serving Harry as a bedroom in Potter mansion.

 Sirius went over a walk-in cupboard, and reappeared a moment later to offer Harry a second wand, different from the first.

 When Harry took it, he felt the same feeling as before, but the sense of wrongness was less with this. "Better," he said. "But still not right."

 Sirius hesitated. "Try my wand," he offered after a moment, offering it to Harry. "Maybe it will work better – I know I can use your fathers wand, we sometimes swapped wands in school, to try and prove that it wasn't us that did something."

 Harry took Sirius's wand, and smiled. "_Much better," he proclaimed. "Not exactly right, but much better than mum and dads."_

 "Well, you have a wand, kiddo," Sirius smiled. "Now you just have to learn how to use it."

 Harry smiled eagerly. He'd been waiting a long time for this. "Teach me," he said simply, sitting down in front of Sirius and smiling.

 "It's not quite so easy as that," Sirius remarked, grinning. "I'll show you how to hold your wand first, because you haven't got it quite right. Which hand does your wand feel most comfortable in?"

 Harry swapped the wand from hand to hand, "neither," he said finally. "It feels the same in both hands." Harry was ambidextrous. 

 "That's fine, your mother was the same," Sirius said, smiling slightly. "You don't usually get that with wizards – some say that those who can do that are more powerful than others … Or better learners. I know your mother was, in some ways. Ok, show me how you're holding the wand … No, no, not like that … Yes! That's it!"

 Harry held the wand before him, and remembered some of the simple spells he'd heard Sirius use. "_Lumos_," he murmured, staring at the wand tip, willing light to come there, as he'd seen happen to Sirius. Immediately, light appeared there, shining over the room, illuminating Sirius's ecstatic expression. 

 "You picked up really quick! Then again, with your parents, I wouldn't expect any more."

 Harry, however, was confused. He'd felt _something when the spell took effect, but it hadn't come from the wand, he didn't think. Then he pinpointed the feeling – it was how he felt whenever he gave off the bursts of magic that made him and Sirius move. Whenever he was scared or frightened and his magic got away from him._

 Had he really used magic, then? Harry decided to check, and focused his mind once more on the light. _Go out!_ He thought, though he'd never heard Sirius use the counter charm to Lumos before. 

 Immediately, the light winked out completely. Harry blinked, his eyes adjusting quickly. "How did you do that?" Sirius asked, surprised.

 "I thought it," Harry replied. "And I think I thought the light there, as well."

 "How do you mean?"

 "I didn't feel anything in the wand. I felt the same as I do when my magic gets away on me and we have to move … Don't we have to leave here? Will the Ministry be able to pick up on me again?" Harry asked, concerned.

 "No, kiddo. This place is so old that magic is seeped into its very being – Potter Mansion is alive, and she hides her treasures from outside eyes. No one can detect use of magic here, whether it be underaged or anything else," Sirius reassured his godson. "But how do you mean, you felt the same as you do when your magic gets away on you?"

 "I've heard about this," a soft, powerful female voice spoke out suddenly, and both Harry and Sirius turned to see a red-haired witch with Harry's eyes smiling at them from a picture frame. 

 "Lily?! What do you mean, you've heard of this before?" Sirius had more or less gotten used to Lily and James's portraits appearing where they shouldn't normally be.

 "When a person is born to two powerfully magical people, they often have such a gift for magic that a wand hampers them, it doesn't help. Harry darling, see that," Lily asked pointing to a picture frame with a small picture of Harry in it, sitting on Harry's bedside.

 "Yes," Harry nodded.

 "Put down the wand, and try to make it rise in the air," Lily instructed him.

 Harry did as she asked, giving Sirius's wand back to him, and concentrating on the picture frame. _Rise, he commanded it mentally. _

 Slowly, oh so slowly, the picture began to rise into the air, until it hovered, about a foot up from its former position. Harry gave a smile of triumph, before his rolled up into his head and he collapsed backwards in a dead faint.

 Sirius yelled and leapt forward, Lily pressed herself against the portrait frame, eyes wide with surprise, then she relaxed slightly, as Sirius cradled Harry's head. "Of course, using the magic consciously will tire him out. I think it best that you teach him this form of magic, Sirius, and leave him to learn to use a wand in Hogwarts."

 "Why do you say that?" Sirius asked, lying Harry gently down on the bed.

 "Because it's a gift that few learn to develop. If he learns that magic can only be accessed through a wand, he'll end up a much weaker wizard than he shoulder, and there are very few people who know of the gift of Wandless magic."

 "Most wizards can use it though," Sirius said, confusedly.

 "When they are young, yes, before they learn to use a wand, but it comes in bursts, as inconsistent as the wind. They are taught to use a wand to control the magic within themselves, but after that, they can only rarely use Wandless magic after that, and then only in _extreme circumstances," Lily said. "He'll have to learn to use a wand as well, I think, because otherwise he won't know _spells_, he'll just know how to make things do things. Perhaps just before he goes to Hogwarts, and when he has his own wand, you can start teaching him to use it."_

 "I'll do that. Thanks for the advice Lily."

 "Any time, Padfoot," Lily smiled, before walking out of the portrait to go and find her husbands picture.

 Kiby suddenly appeared in the room with a slight pop. "Is Master Harry being alright, Master Sirius?" she asked anxiously.

 "Yes, Kiby, Harry's fine. He just over taxed himself slightly, he should be up and about again very soon," Sirius replied.

 "Kiby is being grateful. Is there anything Kiby is being able to do?" the elf asked.

 "Go and tell Nelly and Sally to make only light foods for dinner tonight," Sirius replied. "But that is all, I think."

 "Kiby will do this, Sir!" with a crack the elf was gone, and Harry stirred groggily.

 "Hey there mate, you ok?" Sirius asked, going to sit beside his godson.

 "Headache," Harry replied thickly.

 Sirius whipped up his wand and cast a pain relieving charm on his godson. "Better?" he asked.

"Much," Harry replied, smiling. "Can I go to my room though? I'm tired."

 "Of course, come on, up you get."

 Sirius led his godson three doors to the left of his own room, and tucked the boy into a large four poster bed with red hangings. "I'll send Kiby up with some food in a little while," he said with a slight smile. Harry didn't answer – he was already asleep.

 Next day, Harry woke completely refreshed. "What are we doing now?" he asked Sirius eagerly. 

 "Well, you have to keep up with your studies in the Muggle world," Sirius replied. "Didn't your teachers give you some homework for the holidays?"

 "Yes," Harry replied with a faint sigh. 

 "Well, do some of that, then we'll practise a bit of magic, but we can't do too much, because your body isn't able to cope with it," Sirius replied. "If you're still feeling fine, then we'll go and do some flying."

 "Yay!" Harry replied, grinning widely. "I'll go and get my homework now," he raced off eagerly.

 Sirius smiled slightly. A sure way to get Harry to do something was to offer to go flying after it was done. Harry loved the freedom of the open air as much as Sirius himself did. 

 A moment later, Harry was back, carrying several books and a stack of parchment. Sirius took out a book that he was reading, and the pair of them settled down in silence.

 After awhile, Harry broke that silence. "Sirius, do I have any blood relatives left alive?" he asked.

 "No, Harry. You don't have any … what brings this one?" Sirius replied slowly.

 "Didn't I have an aunt, mum's nasty sister?" Harry asked, not answering Sirius's own question.

 "You did. She and her husband gave you up, left you in a city where they hoped you'd die, and where you would have died if I hadn't come along," Sirius said.

 "What happened to her? Isn't she still alive?" Harry asked.

 "No, she isn't," Sirius told him, eyes going misty as he looked back into the past.

 _When Harry had been four years old, Sirius had left him with Kiby in Potter Mansion and ventured out in dog shape, heading towards the town called Little Whinging, where the Dursley's lived. It was time to pay them back for what they'd done to his godson._

_ Eventually he reached his destination, and found the house at Number Four, Privet Drive quite easily. He slipped up the driveway, the thought of revenge sweet in his mind._

_ Suddenly he saw black man shapes prowling closer to the house in the darkness, and he smelt _bad_ on them. Immediately, he knew who they were – Death Eaters!_

_ He shifted form back to man and used a quick concealment charm on himself, so that he would not be seen, and slipped into the garden of the house without a sound._

_ He quickly made it inside, looking around himself at the neat walls and carpeted floors, the pictures on the mantle piece that showed a fat blonde boy doing numerous activities with his parents. _

_ Upstairs, he could hear, with dogs senses of smell and hearing, the breathing of three people. One of them was snoring horribly, and sounded young, one breathed lightly, Sirius thought this was Petunia, and one was grunting in his sleep every now and then. Vernon Dursley, the one who'd left Harry in London._

_ Sirius stayed downstairs, hiding himself under the couch in the living room. He knew that the Death Eaters would bring the family down here eventually._

_ He watched as some of the Death Eaters crept upstairs, while others walked around the downstairs of the house. Sirius knew that even as they were looking for Harry, they were casting silencing charms so no one would hear anything that went on here._

_ Soon enough, he heard screams from upstairs, tortured screams of agony. The Dursley's wake up call. They were dragged downstairs and dropped unceremoniously on the floor of the living room about five minutes later._

_ All of the Death Eaters met up. "Where's Potter?" one of them asked._

_ "Ask them," another snarled, kicking at the fat boy Sirius assumed was Dudley Dursley._

_ "Where's Potter? We know the ministry lied! He's still alive, and you've got him here, hidden somewhere," he addressed Vernon._

_ "We don't know what you're talking about," Vernon said, whites showing all around his eyes, voice shaking with terror._

_ "Oh, but we think you do. Where's Harry Potter? _Crucio!_" Vernon screamed in pain, and Petunia whimpered. Dudley passed out in terror._

_ Sirius, had he been in human form, might have smiled. Had the Dursley's not done what they had to Harry, he might have helped them. All he felt now was mild disappointment that the Death Eaters would take care of the Dursley's and he would not be able to._

_ After a few minutes, the torturing had stopped. "Now, where is Potter?" the Death Eater asked again. "If you don't tell us, we'll kill your son, so speak!"_

_ "He's probably dead by now," Vernon snarled. "I don't know and I don't care. I haven't seen him since I left him in London the day they gave him to us." _

_ "So you abandoned him … Dammit!" Snarled the Death Eater. "You could've spared us a lot of hard work if we'd learnt of this earlier."_

_ He muttered something, a charm that killed slowly but one that, if the counter curse was performed within twenty minutes, could be stopped. The Death Eaters disaparated._

_ Sirius slipped from his hiding place under the couch, resuming human form as he removed the charm of invisibility. Petunia screamed and Vernon started painfully._

_ "Who are you?"_

_ "An enemy of yours, but an enemy of the ones that did this to you also," Sirius replied._

_ "We haven't seen you before, _wizard_, so why are we your enemies?" Petunia asked. _

_ "Because of what you did to my godson."_

_ "We haven't touched your godson," Vernon snarled._

_ "My godsons name is Harry Potter – if not for me, he would have died in London that day … Had you not done that, I would have halted the charm that is killing you. You'll be dead by morning, all of you, payment for the life you nearly took," Sirius replied._

_ "Please," Petunia begged. "Please help us!"_

_ "Like you helped Harry? Like you helped your sister? I was James Potter's best friend, you might remember Lily saying something about me, my name is Sirius Black."_

_ "The mass murderer?"_

_ "I've never killed anyone," Sirius replied calmly. "Except for people like the one's you just met. They don't like non-magic people, no more than you lot like wizards."_

_ "Please!" Petunia cried, breaking down and crying._

_ "Good bye," Sirius replied, and disaparated. _

 "I doubt that any other wizard would have gotten there in time," Sirius said. "So I'll assume that they are dead."  
 "Wasn't that a little _mean?" Harry asked. _

 "I suppose it was, but I was furious with them for what they did to you … I couldn't bring myself to help them when I knew that they'd left a helpless baby in a backstreet in London without a qualm," Sirius replied.

 "Oh…"

***

 Hey look, no cliffie! Lucky people! And the chapter was 3400 words! Thanks for all of your lovely reviews (individual thanks are on the next chapter), and please review to tell me what you think, again. For those of you who don't review signed in and would like to be notified when I put a new chapter up, just a) send me an email or b) leave an address in your review. The same goes for people who do not display their email addresses on their bio pages. Can we try to get to 360 reviews in this chapter? I'm on 323 at the moment, so it's only another 37 reviews! Not that difficult at all!

~WolfMoon~


	9. Christmas

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Eight: Christmas

Harry was sitting in the split position, legs stretched out to either side of him in a straight line, his elbows resting on the floor in front of him as he nursed his sore mouth.

 One of his teeth was wobbly and it ached like hell. The splits position was a little uncomfortable, but he was trying to forget about the pain in his mouth, and to stop wobbling the tooth.

 "What a way to be spending Christmas," Harry spoke aloud, though he was addressing no one.

 "Hey, it's not that bad," Sirius settled in front of his godson, wincing when he saw the position that the boy was in. Harry had a very limber body.

 "Yes it is. You wouldn't remember, you're an old fart now," Harry replied impudently, but he smiled as he said it.

 "Hey! I resent that!" Sirius replied, but his eyes laughed. "If you're going to be like that, I won't help you."

 "You can help?" Harry sat upright, an eager look on his face.

 "Yes, but I don't know if I should, now …" Sirius teased.

 "If you don't, I'll tell the house elves to only give you porridge for meals," Harry threatened, knowing full well that Sirius _despised_ porridge.

 "Ok, ok, I'll help. But that was hitting _way_ below the belt," Sirius said. "Open your mouth. The easiest way of doing this is to simply remove the tooth, since it'll fall out anyway."

 Harry gave Sirius a stern look. "If this hurts, the threat still stands," he said, opening his mouth.

 Sirius just grinned at him. "That's one threat that I don't want being carried out, and will therefore behave myself. He sent a spell into Harry's mouth.

 Harry felt it touching about all of teeth, testing them. Suddenly, something happened, it hurt, but not badly, and it wasn't so much pain as the act of scratching an itch.

 Suddenly two teeth were lying in Harry's hand. "Two?" he asked. "I only felt one of them."

 "Then the other must have been only just coming loose," Sirius replied shrugging slightly. "Come on, lunch time, then we have to do some more magic practice."

 Harry groaned. Magic practice had fast become a chore, as he had to do the same thing over and over, and was never allowed to practice for long, lest he wear himself out completely again, like he had the first time.

 After lunch, he and Sirius walked into the living room. Sirius thought for a moment, then nodded to the fire place. "Make a fire there," he told his godson.

 Harry concentrated, picturing the fire in his mind. He could pin point the exact second that the fire turned from a mind image to reality, and when he opened his eyes, there was a fire crackling merrily in the gate.

 "Put it out," Sirius told him. Harry rolled his eyes and did so. 

 "Well done. Are you tired?" Sirius asked, concerned.

 "No Sirius, not yet," Harry replied.

 "Then I want to try something else. I want you to try and turn this," he placed an orange on the table, "into a lemon."

 Harry gave Sirius a look. "How am I supposed to do that?" he asked.

 "It's transfiguration. You'll learn it at Hogwarts, so you may as well practice now. Orange to lemon is an easy one, because they are both in the same family of fruit," Sirius replied.

 "Ok," Harry said, looking at the orange, then closing his eyes and picturing it in his mind, then picturing a lemon next to it. Then, still within his mind, he moved the images so that they were over each other, the lemon obscuring the orange from view.

 He felt the change into the physical dimension, and opened his eyes to see a lemon on the table. "Well done. You rest, and I'll see if this is _really a lemon."_

 Harry was about to ask what Sirius meant, but his godfather changed for and disappeared out the door. Harry let his eyes drift closed, and was immediately over taken by sleep.

 "Wake up kiddo," Sirius's voice came to him a moment later. "No time for sleeping now!"

 Harry opened his eyes tiredly. He hadn't realised how tired he had become after using his magic. "Did I do it right?" he asked.

Sirius took out a sharp looking knife and sliced through the lemon, touching the fleshy inside of the fruit with a finger tip, then raising it to his lips to lick it thoughtfully.

 He made a face. "It's lemon alright. When I first did that spell – when _most people first do that spell – they only change the outside of the fruit, and the inside remains the same," Sirius explained._

 "Oh," Harry replied sleepily, not really taking on what Sirius was saying. 

 Sirius hit himself lightly on the forehead. "You're too tired to listen to me, aren't you mate?" he addressed Harry, but then realised that the boy had drifted off again already. "At least you weren't knocked out that time," the man reflected, lifting his godson easily into his arms and carrying Harry back to his own room.

 He left the boy, curled up asleep on the bed. In four days, it would be Christmas, and Sirius wanted to make it a good one. He called the house elves to him quietly, so as not to disturb his godson. 

 "Can you decorate this place?" he asked. "A Christmas theme?"

 "We is doing this easily, Master Black," they told him, as always happy to be of service. "We is only asking that you is keeping out of our way, if this is not to bold. We is needing time and no distractions to do what Master Black wants."  
 "Of course," he replied. "Do what you can."

 "Nelly is still making dinner," one of the elves squeaked. "So Master Black is not needing to do this. We is not think that Master Black should be cooking, Sir."

 "That's ok, I'm a hopeless cook. When you get the chance, take a look on Harry please. I'm going out to find some more presents."

 "We is taking good care of the Master!" The elves replied, as they _cracked off to take care of their tasks._

 Sirius disguised himself with a few well placed spells and slipped from the house on silent feet, changing form to a dog and hurrying past the Aparation border.

 While inside the Potter Mansion, the weather had been sunny and bright, as it most often was. The weather changed on patterns that Sirius could not discern, though he knew that Harry's mood had something to do with it.

 Outside the gate to the mansion, everything was different. The mansion was set on an island in the middle of the ocean, out of sight of the land… Not that anyone could have found it anyway.

 The place had a load of powerful Muggle repelling charms placed on it, more so than any other place, bar perhaps the magical schools. He knew that if even wizards who were not invited, or told the location of the house, would see it only as a godforsaken looking island out in the middle of no where.

 Today, the wind was whipping the see into a frenzy, white topped waves lifted, trying to reach the sky, then crashing down to the rocks in high bad temper as their goal remained unachieved.

 Fine spray, driven by the wind, touched the fur of Sirius's dog form, though he stood some seventy feet above the oceans surface, looking down at the sea from a thin, treacherous pathway hewn into the rocks.

 He was glad that the closed gate prevented Harry from being able to come out here – it would be suicide for a young, inquisitive boy to venture along these cliffs alone.

 Sirius felt quite odd, standing, back paws resting the sunlight, with a gentle breeze stirring his fur, to either side of him rising huge, white stone walls, and over him, a tall, arched gateway with beautifully crafted wrought iron gates, and his face and front paws in this gale force wind, lashed by the spray of the sea.

 Stepping fully outside of the gate, Sirius disappeared with a crack, reappearing a moment later in the back yard of the Leaky Cauldron, and slipping into Diagon Alley, feeling very self conscious amid all these smiling, happy people, drunk with the cheerful atmosphere that was Christmas…

…And all of whom would attack him and hand him over to the Ministry in a second if they realised who he really was.

 He wandered into the Apothecary, looking for a few potions ingredients that he was running low on – he thought he may as well get them himself, since he was here – and received quite a shock when he noticed that _Severus Snape_ was in the shop as well.

 Sirius's eyes narrowed in intense dislike. Even though he knew that the other man was a spy of Dumbledore's within the Death Eater ranks, he could _never like him._

 He forced himself to walk down a different isle, and hoped that by the time he'd found the ingredients that he wanted, Snape – _Snivellus_ – would be gone from the shop.

 He wandered at random, waiting until he heard Snivellus leaving the store, but he picked up on the last few lines that the Snivellus said the shop assistant. "I know they are odd ingredients to request, but the Potions Master of Hogwarts on occasion must make odd potions."

 So, Snivellus was working in Hogwarts. Sirius immediately started having second thoughts about sending Harry there when the time came for the boy to go to school.

 Purchasing his potions ingredients, Sirius walked out, and headed for Flourish and Blotts. He had a lot of resources in the Potter libraries (there were two) but he wanted to make sure that no new books about Wandless magic had been written in the last few years, because the libraries wouldn't have them.

 "What books do you have on Wandless magic?" Sirius asked the shop assistant when the man asked if he could help.

 "You'll need the manager for that Sir – it's not a topic that much is known about," the young man said important. "Wait a moment, I'll be getting him now." 

 A few seconds later a tall, balding man with lively blue eyes appeared, along with the younger assistant. "Duncan Blotts," the man introduced himself. "What is it I can help you with?"

 "I'm looking for books on Wandless magic," Sirius replied. "I've found a small collection in my attic, and they got me interested."

 "Well, it's not a very well known subject, and since its so difficult to get information on, the books I can offer you are few. But, if you'll come this way, we keep them out the back," the man led the way, and Sirius followed warily.

 "Here you are Sir," the man said, gesturing a dismally small pile of books. There only about ten books there, and Sirius immediately noted that there were some books in the Potter library that weren't included here.

 There was, however, one addition to the pile which he hadn't seen before. "I haven't seen that one," he remarked, picking it up. "What's it cost?"

 "Fifty galleons. It's a bit of a collectors item," Blotts said. "One of the main reasons we still have this copy in, it's so expensive, and no one really wants it."

 "I'll take it anyway. I told you, I'm hooked on this," Sirius replied. Blotts looked more than a little ecstatic about this.

 "Will you really? It was a bit of a mistake buying them, I think. We only got three copies, and they've been in the store for seven years now!"

 "Aren't you supposed to be convincing me that I _want_ to buy this?" Sirius teased, and the man stopped talking with a slight grin. 

 "So I am. But I do prefer to stick to the truth," Blotts replied. Sirius handed over the fifty galleons and headed from the store, doing a little more shopping around, before Aparating to Hogsmeade.

 Laden with things, Sirius Aparated back to the Potter house, giving everything to Kiby, who came to greet him and hide everything from Harry's prying eyes.

 "Master Black! Wait until you is seeing the house!" the elf squeaked happily. "We is getting our job done, Sir! We is dong well, Kiby is thinking."

 "I'm sure you're doing _great_," Sirius replied warmly. He had become good friends with the house elves in the Potter Mansion, since he had had few others to talk to through the years of Harry's infancy.

 "Master Black is being very kind to be saying so, Sir," the elf said, dancing around happily. She had taken everything up to the castle in one quick _pop, and had then returned to accompany Sirius up to the castle._

 When they reached the front doors, Harry was just charging outside, heading for the broom shed, black hair flying in the wind, green eyes, behind his glasses, sparkling with renewed vigour.   
 "You awake again?" Sirius teased, swinging the six year old up into his arms. "You're getting a bit big to be doing this to."

 "I'm awake," Harry giggled. "Put me down then! I wanna go and fly!"

 Sirius laughed heartily. "Well, I might fancy a bit of flying myself. Want some company?"

 "Sure," Harry shrugged in reply. "Always fun with someone else!" 

 Sirius laughed and they headed off across the grounds to where their broomsticks were waiting for them. Lub appeared suddenly, offering a small parcel to Harry, who took it eagerly. "Thank you Lub," he said dutifully.

 "Master is being welcome," the elf replied, before disappearing.

 "He's in a hurry," Sirius remarked.

 "They're still decorating," Harry explained calmly. "It looks pretty inside. You'll like it. But we have to stay out of their way while they're decorating."

 "Of course," Sirius agreed, waiting while Harry opened the little parcel and took out the Snitch. It had been James's once, and the lettering _JP *love heart* LE_ was still engraved on the bottom of it. 

 "Let it go and we'll see who can get it first after letting it go for two minutes," Sirius offered.

 Harry nodded and released the ball. "Daddy really loved mummy, didn't he? He wrote it on a _Snitch, after all."_

 "Yes, James loved Lily with all his heart, and she loved him as much," Sirius replied, watching as Harry kept track of the time with his watch.

 "Did you love someone?" the boy asked interestedly. "As much as mummy and daddy loved each other?"

 "There was never anyone really special in my life," Sirius replied slowly. "I couldn't keep up a relationship and I never found a person I could really love. I liked a girls company, and could love her for a few days, a week … But never like Lily and James loved each other. James was the same as me at first, but then he found Lily."

 "Two minutes," Harry said, swinging onto his broom. Sirius copied, glad of the interruption, he didn't think it was quite what he should be telling a six year old about.

 Half an hour later, they both trooped up to the Mansion, Sirius worn out, and Harry slightly less awake than before, happily parading with the Snitch in his hand.

 Sirius was _very proud of his godson, he had not needed to go slowly, or purposely avoid the snitch for some time now. Harry was certainly a better Seeker than Sirius was. _

 Walking into the Mansion, Sirius nearly fell of backwards, he came to a stop that fast. "Wow," he breathed.

 The entire entrance way was frozen, a thin layer of unbreakable ice lined the walls, floor, even the ceiling, cold steam rose of it, but the room temperature remained at a comfortable degree.

 Coming down from the roof were stalactites of ice, gigantic and almost fearsome – Sirius was _very glad that it was impossible for one of those things to fall._

 All the statues had been coated in ice, though the ones that could move still did so. A few more statues, made solely of ice, were scattered around the place.

 Wandering through the rooms were glowing fairy lights, which were real fairies, and little bits of holly and mistletoe. Tinsel, mainly silver, was hung artfully in various places.

 Walking through more rooms, they found that everything seemed pretty much the same as the entrance. In one room where there was a fire going, Harry and Sirius smiled to see that the fire – though a pale, icy blue looking colour – gave off warmth.

 "Is the decorations being pleasing to the masters?" Seven anxious house elves appeared in pops around them.

 "It's _brilliant, you did a wonderful job!" Sirius exclaimed in delight, with Harry echoing his praises._

 "We is only doing our jobs," they muttered, embarrassed by the praise, then disappeared, presumably to finish on some of the rooms that weren't quite done yet.

 "It's _Christmas!" Harry grinned up at his godfather. "Now it looks like Christmas!"_

 "It looks like Christmas outside of the Mansion too, now we just need it to snow here," Sirius agreed.

 Next morning, they woke to a ground covered in a gentle, powdering snow, and soft snow flakes drifting down from low hanging storm clouds.

 "_Now it's really Christmas!" Harry said excitedly, and Sirius laughed._

 On Christmas morning, Sirius was awake early, but, knowing what Christmas was like for younger children, he lay, pretending to sleep.

 Sure enough, only a few minutes later, Harry came bounding into the room and up onto Sirius's bed, shaking his godfather happily. "Sirius, Sirius! Wake up! Santa came!" he shrieked happily.

 Happy cries soon turned to laughter as Sirius 'woke up' and started tickling his godson. "Stop that!" Harry gasped between giggles. "We have to go and open presents now!"

 Sirius laughed and let the boy go. "You go ahead, I'll be along in a few minutes," he replied.

 Harry, needing no second bidding, shot off across the ice covered floors, keeping easily upright, since the ice had grip on it, just too make _sure_ that Harry didn't hurt himself.

 "Presents!" Sirius heard his hyperactive godson yelling at the top of his voice for some time. Sirius quickly got to his feet and dressed, hurrying after Harry.

 He'd asked the house elves to put his name on some of the presents, things that he'd bought for himself because he needed them, just to make the Christmas seem more fun and realistic. He just wished that there was someone else, as well as Harry, to celebrate Christmas with.

 Oh well, at least he had Harry. That was the main thing.

 In the big entertaining room, Sirius found Harry easily. There was a _huge tree, which appeared to be growing out of the centre of the floor, decorated to the max, its bows beginning to droop slightly, despite the house elves spells to keep it upright and perfect._

 Beneath the tree presents were piled at jaunty angles, wrapped in pretty, colourful paper. Harry was sitting on the floor, gazing happily up at the tree.

 Sirius walked up behind him. "Instead of gazing at the tree, why don't you go and find a present for both of us to open?" He told his godson with a smile.

 Harry whooped aloud and charged forwards, quickly finding a present for himself and Sirius, though he struggled slightly under the weight of the two biggest presents he'd been able to see.

 Sirius was about to step forwards and help the boy, but, suddenly, one of the presents drifted upwards slightly so that it hovered at Harry's shoulder.   
 "I'm getting better at this," Harry said proudly. "I'm good at making things float." With a wave of his hand, he sent the present over to land next to Sirius.

 "Don't do that too often," Sirius warned. "You don't want to be sleeping through Christmas day, do you?"

 "Of course not! But lifting things isn't as tiring as anything else," Harry replied calmly, tearing into the paper that wrapped his present. When he managed to get the paper off, he gave a yell of delight and grinned at Sirius.

 "Look! Santa knew I wanted a model Quidditch set!" he cried, pointing excitedly.

 "Of course he did Harry! Santa knows everything," Sirius replied with a smile, opening his own present in much the same manner as Harry had. "See, I told you! Who else would know that I wanted a new cauldron?"

 Excitedly, the pair of them went through the pile of presents, Harry smiling so widely that Sirius was afraid his face was going to slip in two.

 Around Harry, the pile of opened presents grew higher, with a Quaffle, the model Quidditch set, Quidditch gloves, story books and books of magic stacked haphazardly together in one big mess.

 Finally, the presents were done, it had taken some two or three hours. "Come on kid, time to eat something, then you can play with your new things," Sirius told Harry, before the boy could go rushing outside.

 The pair of them spent the Christmas in a state of high good cheer, Sirius transfiguring a set of ice skates for each of them from normal shoes, and racing his godson along the halls.

 The house elves made wonderful food for the day, more extravagant than usual, though the fare was never less than perfect. Harry and Sirius both had the times of their lives.

***

Hey there, sorry about lack of updates – I'm reinstalling my operating system, and don't have as much access to computers/internet as I usually do. Thanks to all who reviewed – individual thanks are on the next page! I have now got 365 reviews now, and I'll try and update sometime after I get to 410, another 45 reviews from now. See you all then!


	10. Discoveries

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Nine: Discoveries

Harry bounded out of the fire place into Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, and was met with a happily squeaking house elf. Kreacher hugged Harry tightly around the middle. "Master Harry has returned."  
 "So has Master Black," Sirius's voice came from behind his godson as he stepped from the green flames into his own home. Kreacher immediately stopped looking so jubilant.

 "Kreacher bids Master Black good day, we is wishing that he has drowned himself," he added, under his breath.

 "In that case, you are out of luck," Sirius remarked dryly.

 "Kreacher, we came over because it's Christmas," Harry said excitedly. "Have you had a good Christmas so far?"

 "Kreacher is having an excellent Christmas, especially since Master Potter has chosen to join him in the Ancient and Most Nobel House of Black. Though we is wishing you hadn't brought Mistresses treacherous son with you."

 "Don't be silly Kreacher," Harry replied, smiling. "Sirius is nice! See, he let me come to visit you!"

 Kreacher said nothing, though Harry knew that neither Sirius nor Kreacher would change their opinion of the other any time soon. The hate between them ran too deeply.

 "We're going to stay for the rest of the day," Harry explained. "That way I can talk to you!"

 "Kreacher is being glad that he is cleaning the house today," the house elf remarked. "Kreacher invites you to come to the Kitchen, if Masters are wanting food."

 "Thanks Kreacher! Sure," Harry bounced off after the elf, with Sirius following less enthusiastically behind.

 By the end of the holidays, Harry had finished _all_ of his homework (the maths teacher had given him some easy multiplying and dividing decimals by tens, because Harry was far ahead of the rest of the class, who were still on adding, subtracting and the occasional bit of division or multiplying.) and was going very well with his magical tuition.

 "Well, maybe you'll be able to stay here for a while without a magical burst to alert anyone. I probably should have taught you this ages ago," Sirius remarked as they walked back into the flat they'd vacated in preference of Potter Mansion.

 "Maybe," Harry replied. "I just want to start going to Tai-Kwon-Doe classes again." 

 Sirius laughed and ruffled his godsons hair. "Go to sleep kid," the man advised. "You'll have to get up early tomorrow morning to get ready for school."

 Harry nodded and headed off to bed. Sirius stayed awake for a while longer, thinking about his godson. "Oh Harry, you've such a life ahead of you. Will you be able to do what you have to? Will you be able to fulfil your destiny? Well, I could not have done anything else. You would not have lived this long if I hadn't come to look out for you. You'll do all right though, I'll always be there for you."

 He stood up and walked up to his own room, next door to Harry's, to get a good nights sleep himself.

 In the morning, Sirius was awake long before his godson, it was his habit to rise early in the morning and practice his own magic, keep up with the duelling spells that he knew, and teach himself ones that he didn't.

 Making Harry's lunch with a swish of his wand, he looked over to see Harry, disguised as Taylor Sarl, slip into the kitchen. "Morning," Sirius greeted with a smile, before doing a double take. "Did you change into your disguise using magic?"

 "No," Harry replied. "Of course not silly. I'm not in my disguise yet, you have to put it on because the Ministry won't detect your magic."

 Sirius waved his wand, creating a mirror. "You're Taylor," he said. Harry blinked in shock.

 "I didn't do this. Are you sure you didn't do this while I was asleep, as a practical joke? If you did, it isn't funny," he told Sirius.

 "There's only one explanation for this," Sirius said, meeting his godsons eyes.

 "Metamorphmagic," both of them said together, sounding slightly reverent.  

 "Haven't you got a cousin or something who's a metamorphmagi?" Harry asked.

 "Yeah," Sirius replied, "Nymphadora Tonks, who only ever answers to her last name."  

 Harry giggled slightly at this. "I would too, if I was called Nymphadora – that's a _girls_ name, and I'm a guy. But wouldn't it have come into light before now?"

 "I don't know. I know that Tonks has a very strong gift, and she was changing at about two years old, but there aren't that many with a gift as strong. I'll head back to the Mansion and see what I can find in the library there today. I'll put the disguise magic on you myself anyway, just in case," Sirius decided. "Your own disguise might fade off, I don't know. I never thought much about Metamorphmagic – it's quite rare."

 Harry nodded. "I'll be fine at school anyway," he said. "I can walk there fine."

 Sirius nodded. "I'll meet you here after Tae-Kwon-Doe, ok?"

 "Sounds good to me. See you then," Harry swept his lunch from the counter and packed it easily into a bag as Sirius placed the few charms necessary to keep the illusions that Harry was really 'Taylor Sarl' in place.

 "Have a good day kid," he said, ruffling Harry's hair gently.

 "You too," Harry replied cheerfully, darting outside, heading for school. Sirius smiled gently after his godson, before turning to the fire place and throwing a handful of floo powder on to it. 

 "Potter Mansion," he murmured.

 Harry walked into the play ground at Edinburgh Elementary alone, head high and proud as he glanced around him, marking everyone silently. He spotted a pack of bullies tormenting a younger child, a girl, and sighed.

 Walking over, he touched a finger to a pressure point on one of the boys, forcing him out of play for a moment, frozen in place with an expression of agony on his face.

 The other bullies stopped when they noticed that something was wrong with one of their own. When they saw Harry, their 'courage' deserted them.

 "Didn't you know that it's bad manners to hit a lady?" Harry asked coolly, releasing the bully he was holding with a finger. They all left quickly. Harry was respected by the bullies, because he wasn't afraid of them.

 "Sorry about them," he said calmly to the girl.

 She wasn't the prettiest of people, with bug-like eyes and pale blonde hair, but she smiled at him. "That's ok," she told him. "My name's Luna, Luna Lovegood. Who are you?"

 "Taylor Sarl," Harry replied. He knew that the girl was a witch – her mother was a highly respected member of the Accidental Charms squad at the Ministry. It was rumoured that her husband was a little on the doubtable side of sanity.

 "Thanks for that," Luna said, and waved before wandering off. 

 Harry smiled faintly. She was just the sort of person that the bullies would _love_ to pick on. He'd have to watch out for her.

 She wandered off, humming tunelessly to herself as Harry walked his own way, occasionally checking the girls location, and that of the people around her.

 Suddenly, the bell rang. It startled Harry momentarily before he headed into school for his first class – maths.

 "Have you done your homework, Taylor?" The teacher, Professor Iron, asked his favourite student.

 "Yes, Professor," Harry replied with a  faint sigh. "So what do I do now?"

 "I've got a sheet covering everything you say you can do. Go through it, it includes multiplying decimals by ten. If you require help, ask for it," Iron replied.

 "Why do I have to do harder work than anyone else?" Harry grumbled aloud, getting to work on the paper. None of the other students had arrived at class yet.

 "Because you're the best student in the class."

 "Why do I have to be the best? Can I retire and be the second best?" Harry asked hopefully.

 "No, otherwise there wouldn't _be_ a best in the class," Iron told Harry, grey eyes sparkling. "No one _wants to be the best in the class! Some people just __are." _

 "Well I wish it wasn't me."

 "If wishes were wings, all creatures would fly," the teacher replied as the rest of the class turned up. Harry worked on the sheet – it was all very easy, some of it stuff that Sirius had taught him even before sending him to school.

 The day couldn't pass fast enough.

 Finally the last bell of the day rang. Harry headed outside, ready to bolt for the Tae-Kwon-Doe class, as if getting there quickly would make it pass faster, when he saw the new girl – Luna – in trouble again.

 Hurrying across the playground, Harry made for the gates, where Luna was once more surrounded by the gang of bullies. They were throwing something – a doll, it looked like – over her head and refusing to get it back.

 Luna lost her vague look, face filling instead with extreme anger. Knowing the dangers of angering a young witch without much training, Harry bounded into the centre of the ring of bullies, kneeing one of them in the groin and spinning to deal a quick, hard kick to another's abdomen.

 The rest took one look at Harry's anger, flushed face and backed off quickly. "Cowards," Harry muttered, turning to hand Luna her doll back.

 "Thank you," Luna said, smiling.

 "That's ok. You gonna get home all right?" Harry asked.

 "Yeah, I live just around the corner," Luna replied. "I was being home schooled, but dad likes Mu- well, dad thought I should get a proper education with kids my own age. So I came here."

 "You nearly said Muggles," Harry remarked with a smile. "Don't worry, I know all about that – my older sister is a witch, our parents are both Muggles, and I am too."

 "Oh… Well, at least you are someone I don't have to pretend with," Luna smiled brightly.

 "I have to go – I have a Tae-Kwon-Doe lesson to attend. I'll see you tomorrow, probably," Harry said, smiling back, before taking off, running hard towards his class.

 Luna put her doll in her backpack and wandered off around the corner, pulling a magazine out of a pocket and opening it, right side up.

 Harry checked his pace a short distance from his classroom, catching his breath before going inside. "Taylor! Nice to see you again – have a good Christmas?"

 It was Sensei. "Yes, thank you Sensei. I had great fun. How was yours?" Harry asked politely.

 "Well enough, well enough. Come in and change," Sensei replied. "There's only one or two others so far, and we won't be starting without you."

 Harry still changed swiftly, hurrying back into the main room of the Dojo, ready for tuition in Tae-Kwon-Doe, even if his mind was not completely with it at present.

 One and a half hours later, the lesson ended and Harry changed back into his regular clothes as quickly as he could, before racing home again, yelling good bye and thank you to Sensei as he went.

 "Sirius!" he called, walking through the front door of the flat and dropping his school bag on the floor.

 "In the living room!" Sirius yelled back, and Harry raced over, following the sound Sirius's voice.

 "Ah, there you are," Sirius looked up with a smile, there was a book resting on his lap. "I've been looking into Metamorphmagic while you were at school."

 "What have you found out?" Harry asked, bounding over to sit down beside his godfather.

 "Well, depending on the amount of talent, and the circumstances that one lives in, Metamorphmagic can begin to show at any given time. There are records of fifty year olds developing the ability," Sirius replied. "The only way to strengthen it is to use it, like with so many other things."

 Harry nodded. "That makes sense. Oh, and there is another wizarding family in the area – the Lovegoods, I met their daughter at school today, her name is Luna."

 Sirius swore softly. "Tread softly around her," he warned.

 "I stopped some bullies picking on her," Harry replied. "And told that I knew about the magical world, because I have an older sister who is a witch, just in case I ever slip up."

 "Ah, that sounds alright then," Sirius said, nodding. "All the same, don't hang around with her _too_ much, and don't go to her house – her mother is a charms expert, and I wouldn't want her to notice the charms around you."

 "But if I'm a metamorphmagi, and use _that_ magic to disguise myself, will Mrs. Lovegood recognise it?" Harry asked.

 "Not necessarily. Just warn me if you are going to her house, ok?" Sirius replied, after thinking for a moment. "You know I want you to make more friends, but this friend _could_ be dangerous."

 "Yes Sirius! But I don't _need_ friends – I've got you!" Harry told his godfather, hugging Sirius around the waist as his godfather got up.   
 "You still need friends your own age," Sirius replied sternly, though inside her was smiling happily. His godson loved him. It was almost a good as having James back again. 

 Harry just nodded. "I've got homework from Iron again," he said. "I'd better get started, maths is first thing _again tomorrow."_

 Sirius nodded. "Ok, later tonight we'll head over to Potter Mansion and you can practice with magic."

 Harry nodded and took out his homework. So, he was a metamorphmagi, huh? A thought occurred to him. "Sirius! If I change my appearance using Metamorphmagic, will the Ministry pick up on it?"

 "No, don't worry! That's only normal magic, Metamorphmagic works by it's own rules, the Ministry can't sense it," Sirius yelled back. Harry smiled slightly. Good! This new talent of his wouldn't make life difficult for him and Sirius then.

 Content, Harry settled down to work on his maths homework.

 Not so far away, in what appeared to most as an old ruin of a castle, Albus Dumbledore paced around his office. Professor McGonagall was there also. 

 "He's alive," the headmaster murmured. "I know it!"

 The subject of both their thoughts and conversations was, of course, Harry Potter. 

"Albus, we've been searching these five years!" McGonagall sighed. "Even _I_ am beginning to lose hope! How can you be sure he is dead?"

 "Because if he is, then our world is doomed, Minerva," Dumbledore replied heavily. "Harry is no more dead than Voldemort is, both of them will resurface sometime. But Harry must be trained if he is to fight his battles, and defeat the dark! He _must_ be found and raised in a secure environment!"

 "Maybe he is," McGonagall pointed out. "What says that he is not being raised in a secure environment? We cannot see into the Muggle world, perhaps he was found by a by passer and raised with someone else, someone who could love him."

 "I hope so. But still I worry. What is it was not an innocent bystander than found Harry? What if it was someone more damaging than the Dursley's might have been? What if it was a Death Eater? What if it was Sirius Black?" Dumbledore sighed heavily. "My mind is plagued with hellish images of what would happen, were the traitor to have found Harry Potter."

 "No, Albus! I refuse to believe that, if Harry is alive, he is in the hands of a Death Eater! Surely someone would have come to gloat about it, if that was the truth!" McGonagall cried out, eyes flaming. 

 "You saw what the Death Eaters did to the Dursley's. What if that pitiful wreck of a son of theirs one day becomes Harry?"

 "At least they were not tortured much first, Albus. Their deaths were not as horrific as some that were witnessed through the Dark Reign. That is one small mercy. They all died together, too."

 Dumbledore nodded wearily. "I know, Minerva. Sometimes I feel even myself beginning to lose hope that Harry will ever be found."

 "Albus! Five years you've searched for him without let! If you were convinced enough to do that, then you can't give up hope now!" it was one of the pictures on the wall, a man. McGonagall couldn't remember who the guy was, but it didn't really matter.

 "You are quite right, I suppose," Dumbledore said. "But Christmas is just over and the halls are teeming with students again. All of them disappointed that the holidays couldn't last just _one_ more day. Their post-holiday depression gets to me a little, I'll be fine in a few days."

 Down in the dungeons of the castle, Snape was feeling no such sentiment over the depression of the students. In fact, he had four of them in his classroom now, cleaning out gunk that had been piling there since the last detention.

 He was in a _very_ bad mood. Yet another holiday spent chasing Dumbledore's whim across the country, searching for the Potter brat. Why couldn't the old coot just admit that Potter was either dead or unfindable and leave Severus in peace!

 "Work harder!" He snarled at the terrified first and second year students, who squeaked and jumped to try and do as he bided them. Everyone knew that after the holidays was the worst time of the year for running into Snape. He was always ten times worse than any other point in the year – a feat few would have imagined possible.

 Everyone knew that you shouldn't put so much as a hair out of line after the holidays when Snape was even _rumoured to be near by. These four hapless students hadn't been quick enough to hide when they saw Snape's billowy robes approaching, or think up a suitable excuse for whatever it was that they were doing wrong. They weren't too sure what that was themselves._

 "I said _work harder_," the irritable Potions Master snarled again. "If this isn't finished when I return, you'll serve _another_ detention tomorrow night!"

 More squeaks and attempts to work harder, Snape sneered coldly at his victims and swooped from the room without a backwards glance.

 In another place, far from Hogwarts, a werewolf turned its head to the moon and howled a painful, lonely cry to the taunting full moon.

 Again, in a different place, a rat almost sighed with relief in the knowledge that the Terrible Twins were gone, and he would not be tormented by them any longer.

 And back in Edinburgh, Harry Potter snuggled deep within the blankets of his bed, content after a wearing, but fun lesson in magic from his godfather.

***  
  


 There you go, a new chapter with a bit of info on more than just Harry! Hope you liked the chapter, and please review! I made it to the amount that I wanted last time, and it wasn't too hard, was it? So, how about we get up to 460? Only 47 reviews away, and I got 48 for the last chapter! See you all in a day or two!

~WolfMoon~


	11. A New Friend

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Ten: New Friend

 Another year passed. Harry, for awhile, was good friends with the girl Luna Lovegood, but then she moved away, and Harry was not far behind her.

 Someone had reported to the Ministry that Sirius Black might be in the area, and so Harry and his godfather had once more fled, leaving Edinbourgh behind them. 

 "Sirius, do you ever get lonely?" Seven year old Harry Potter asked his godfather as they walked through a deserted park in Bath, the night falling around them.

 "Sometimes kiddo. But I wouldn't trade your company for the world. I don't mind too much. I make friends and I lose them, as we move from place to place. But I always have you," Sirius replied, staring a sky, watching the stars come out, sometimes obscured by the thin streaks of cloud. 

 "What about you? Do you get lonely?" he asked the boy now.

 "No. Never. You're a much better friend than any that I've made before. Most of the people who want to be my friend don't really care about me. I'm just the top kid in our year at school. I can fight, no one knows much about me, and I'm smart. I don't want friends who aren't really friends," Harry told his godfather, tucking his small hand into Sirius's larger one. 

 "Glad to hear it kid," Sirius said. "But you'll find it hard to find friends like that."

 "I don't care. The harder they are to find, the truer they'll be. I don't want to make friends with a double-crossing like Peter," Harry replied stubornly. 

 Sirius smiled. "I don't blame you. You're right of course – choose your friend with care and they'll last you all your life. Find friends like your father and Remus were to me and you'll be set."

 Harry smiled. "I liked Luna – she seemed a genuine friend."

 "She was, kiddo. I met her, she's a lot like both her parents. She wouldn't play you false. She's got a good mind, even if she is a bit vague," Sirius agreed.

 "I'll be going to Hogwarts soon," Harry remarked. "I don't know if I want to go or not though."

 "I think you'll like it," Sirius replied. "At least you won't have to be constantly moving around and changing schools. And you'll learn things that I can't teach you."

 Harry nodded. "I want to learn," he remarked. "I like learning."

 "You going to try to get into Ravenclaw?" Sirius asked.

 "No, I don't think so. I like mischeif too much for Ravenclaw," Harry replied. "I want to be a Gryffindor. Like you, and Dad, and Remus, and mum."

 "Like Peter," Sirius sighed. "So be careful still – even those in Gryffindor might not necessarily be your friends, for all they are supposed to be brave and courageous. It doesn't mean that they are going to be on the good side."

 "I know Sirius," Harry nodded. "So I should remember that not all Slytherins are bad?"  
 "Yes, you should at that. I haven't met many nice Slytherins, but they do exist. I've had a few good friends in the last fight against Voldemort who were Slytherins. Trust your instincts Harry – they're good!"

 Harry smiled. "I'll do that. Come on, we'd better head for home huh? I start school tomorrow!"

 "So you do. Not too nervous are ya mate?" Sirius asked.

 "Hell no," Harry replied with a laugh. "I've been to way too many new schools to be nervous any more!"

 "So you have," Sirius agreed. "Come on."

 They were staying in a house over looking the river that wound its way through Bath. "I like this house, it's almost as good as the Mansion," Harry remarked, smiling faintly. "Not as good, but fairly close."

 "Much better that Grimmauld," Sirius muttered. 

 "Grimmaulds cool," Harry replied, green eyes twinkling. He wasn't wearing classes. He'd bought some contact lenses a few months back when he kept losing his classes in Karate. Now he wore them most of the time – one less target for a bullies fist. Harry attracted a lot of attention from bullies on his first few days at each new school.

 "That's what _you think. Everyone knows you're insane," Sirius replied loftily._

 Harry tripped him up sneakily. "This coming from the worlds most insane person himself," he teased, giving his godfather a hand up.

 Sirius laughed, accepting his godsons help. "I can't help being insane. And it allowes me to better notice it in others," he teased in return. 

 Next morning, Harry walked alone through the gates of his new school, called quite simply: Bath Elementary School. He had his school bag slung loosely over one shoulder and was watching the playground, picking out any likely people who would want to make life difficult for a new kid.

 Two thick set older kids, accompanied by one slimmer, ratty looking boy. Harry knew they'd be trouble, but pretended not to pay any attention to the approaching trio.

 He walked further into the play ground, noting everything quickly and efficently. Group of what looked to be smokers over there, littler kids were over there. Trees without any low branches that way, and front doors, the only way into the school, straight ahead.

 "Hey you," one of the three boys shoved Harry, sending him stumbling into the hand of a second. Harry allowed himself to be pushed and shoved around the circle for a moment, then stood straight and tall, walking forwards.

 No longer was he the slightly stooped, almost timid looking boy who'd walked through the gates of the school. Dropping the bag, he prowled forwards, moving with the grace of a fighting.

 "Now now boys, it's not nice to pick on people on their first day in a new school," Harry hissed at them, and the boys backed away slightly. Suddenly the new kid was radiating with cold fury.

 "W-we didn't mean it!" squeaked the rat like one. "We was just ha-having some fun! Please don't hurt us!"

 "Please don't hurt us," Harry mocked coldly. "Well, this once, I'll let you be. But you put one hand near me again and I'll break the arm its connected to. Get out of my sight, cowards." 

 The three fled in terror. Harry picked up his bag and continued walking. "Wow! Those guys ran from you like dogs with their tales on fire!" a voice piped up from behind Harry.

 The boy turned to see another boy, about his age, standing behind him. "I'm Dan Kellith," the new comer said.

 "Harry Sull," Harry replied, remembering the name that Sirius and he had agreed upon using. "Pleased to meet you." He shook hands with the other boy, not sure if he liked him or not yet.

 "Welcome to Bath Elementary," Dan said brightly. "Don't mind those bullies you just met with – they _were the power in the school, but now that _you're_ here, that's probably going to be all different!"_

 "I'm sure it will be," Harry replied absently. "I don't like bullies at all. My first school was a nice place, but I was picked on constantly. Since then, I've learned to defend myself from them, and others too!"

 "I think I'm going to like you being here, Harry!" Dan smiled. Harry nodded, still feeling a little absent. 

 Dan became Harry's shadow for the rest of that day. He wore glasses, round ones with thick black frames, and was a wiz at science, even though he was only seven. Everyone called him Professor Geek, and he had been a target of the bullies for a long time.

 He showed Harry around the school, leading him to classes guiding him around the canteen, helping him out in science. Last class of the day was maths, and after that Dan walked with Harry out into the playground again.

 "Wow! Another reason to hang out with you! There's loads of them now! First and foremost I don't get beat up, then you're a really friendly person, you don't tease me, and _now I find out you're a mathamatical wizard! It's my worst subject," he confided._

 Harry laughed. He liked Dan, who was funny as well as intellegent. "Well, I'm not too great at p-science, so I guess that we can help each other out, huh?" 

 "Guess so! Where are you staying?" Dan asked.

 "Over by the river," Harry replied.

 "Oh good, I live in that direction too!" Dan sounded relieved.

 "Do those guys ambush you on the way home from school?" Harry asked, getting a suscious thought.

 Dan nodded, shame faced. "Look, Dan, why don't you do what I did? Start going to Karate, or Tae-Kwon-Doe – learn to defend yourself against them, that way you'll alright," Harry said earnestly.

 "Well, maybe … I'm not the fittest of people," Dan gulped.

 "Come with me, I'll see to it that none of the older kids in the class try to pick on you," Harry offered. He wondered why he was being so friendly to this guy … Must be the Gryffindor in me, he thought. Gryffindors – proud and brave. We don't back down to anything!

 It was funny, he already thought of himself as a Gryffindor, even though it would be some years yet before he went to Hogwarts, let alone found out what house he was in.

 "This is my place here. D'you want to come in?" Dan asked.

 "No thanks," Harry replied. "My godfather expects me back home."

 Dan nodded, looking ashamed. "Maybe tomorrow night though?" Harry offered.

 "Yeah! That would be great!" Dan looked so happy that Harry couldn't regret the promise he'd made, even though he preferred to hang out with Sirius and do homework or head to Grimmauld Place or Potter Mansion and talk to the house elves or learn magic.

 Harry hurried homewards. "Hey Sirius," he greeted his godfather softly as slipped into the room. Sirius was watching the TV, something they had discovered in Edinbrough, and which they had both fallen in love with immediately. 

 "Wizards really should pay more attention to Muggles," Sirius remarked. "They _do_ have some good ideas."

 "Guess what?" Harry asked, and Sirius immediately forgot about the TV, concentrating on his godson instead.

 "I dunno, what?"

 "I made a friend," Harry replied.

 "Good on you!" Sirius exclaimed.  

 "His name is Dan, he's a Muggle and he gets bullied," Harry said.

 "Why is that whenever you make a friend on the first day, it's someone who gets bullied?" Sirius asked tiredly.

 "I dunno," Harry shrugged. "But he seems nice. I'm going his place  tomorrow afternoon for awhile."

 "Bring him around here sometime," Sirius said, turning his attention back to the TV. "I hope your teachers weren't cruel enough to give you homework on the first day?"

 "Nope," Harry replied happily.

 "Good, come and sit down then," Sirius waved a hand at the couch next to him. "There's still an hour before your Tae-Kwon-Doe starts." Harry sat down, curling himself up to watch the box.

 The next day Dan introduced Harry to a few of his almost-friends, as he called them. They were people that Dan hung out with in the library, where they wouldn't get picked on by the bullies.

 The group seemed nice enough, though they were all a little distant from each other and everyone else, the only thing that held them together was their fear of the bullies.

 Harry knew that he would not be good friends with anyone in the group. He wasn't sure if Dan was really going to be his friend, or if he (Harry) was just going to provide a sheild for Dan to hide behind, but at the moment, he and Dan got on just fine.

 "Well, let's go," Harry said as the last bell rang and they walked out of science, which had been a theory lesson, so Harry hadn't minded it at all.

 Dan looked very happy to be taking a friend back to his house. "I don't have any real friends," he confided in Harry with a faint sigh. "Mum's always telling me to get more of them, but I'm Professor Geek at school, so it's hard."

 "Well you've got one now," Harry pointed out, smiling, as they reached Dan's home.

 "Come in," Dan invited him, walking inside and looking a little nervous.

 Harry walked in, feeling nervous himself. "Mum! We're home!" he called out.

 A tall, fairly young woman with nervous brown eyes and pale blonde hair walked out to greet the two people. "Hello, I'm Dan's mother, Helen," she said.

 "Nice to meet you Helen, I'm Harry," Harry replied, smiling courteously and shaking her hand.

 "Welcome. I'm sure you're hungry?" Both boys nodded fervently. "Never knew one your age who wasn't," Helen remarked to no one in particular. "Go to the living room and watch the TV, if you want to."

 "We don't have much to do here," Dan remarked appologetically. "We do have monopoly though, if you'd like to play."

 "I haven't played that before," Harry said thoughtfully. "But I'd like to learn. Let's give it a go!"

 The pair of them spent three hours, first teaching Harry to play, then playing a game of monopoly, taking breaks every now and then to eat something.

 Helen watched her son and his friend playing with a fond smile. She was happy that Dan had found a friend, and this boy, Harry, seemed a very nice one.

 That night, Harry was sleeping soundly, when he was woken by a nightmare. He had the nightmare often before, but had not had it for some time now.

 "Harry, Harry," Sirius shook his godson's shoulder gently. "What's wrong?"

 "I saw It again," Harry replied. There was no need to say what It was – Sirius knew exactly what Harry meant. He had, once more, watched his parents die. 

  


 "Harry, mate, it'll be alright. I wonder why you're having this nightmare now though, when you haven't in … how long is it now? At least a year."

 "A year and a few months," Harry replied sadly. "I hate it! Why do I always have to watch them die?"

 "I can't answer that, Harry, but I'm sure that somewhere out there, there is a reason," Sirius replied tiredly. "Can you go back to sleep?"

 Harry nodded, curling himself up again. Sirius stood watch until Harry was sound asleep, then returned to his own bed, leaving his godson to sleep and dream. Hopefully this time of nice things.

****

Sorry that chapter is a little shorter than most, but I decided that this was the best place to end it. Please let me know what you think in a REVIEW, and don't worry, there will be some more action soon.

 In regard to reviews: Let's try to get to 510 reviews this time, but I'll update after 500 if I have the chapter ready in time. I've got 463 reviews at the moment, so it's only another 37 to 47.

~WolfMoon~


	12. Staying

**_IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTES_**: I have just finished school for the year (I'm Australian). I am about to start 5-6 weeks of school free time. That goes over Christmas, as you'll be aware. I'm going away for Christmas, and probably won't be able to post again till about the 4th of January. I'll do my best to write a few chapters while I'm away so I'll be able to post a lot once I get back … Sorry about that!

 **_IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTES2_: I have put up an original fiction story, which is called Tenebrae Evigilo. It's on fictionpress, and there is a link to it in my bio if you wish to read. I'd like to see your response to my original works. Thank you – on with the chapter.**

**__**

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Eleven: Staying

 Harry and Dan lazed side by side at the rivers edge, watching the rare sunlight dancing over the water. It was afternoon, and Summer, and they were _free._

 "It's funny, I've been here for a year now," Harry murmured. "I think it's the longest I've stayed anywhere since I began coming to school."

 "Well I'm glad you chose this place, mate," Dan said, voice almost dreamy. "I don't know what I'd have done without you."

 Harry dragged himself up to a standing position. "Race you to the Dojo?" he offered his friend, helping Dan up.

 Dan had profited a lot from Harry's friendship. He was never picked on any more, at first because Dan was never seen without Harry, and then because Harry persuaded his new friend to start Tae-Kwon-Doe.

 It was two weeks into the summer holidays, and they were going to their eighth class today, it would be starting fairly soon. 

 "Just think mate, soon you're going to be eight. We can have a birthday party. I've never been to anyone's birthday party – except mine and mum's – before," Dan remarked as they jogged towards the dojo, having decided not to race and therefore tire themselves out. 

 "I haven't either," Harry confessed. "We never stayed in one place long enough to make friends or get invited to parties."

 Dan nodded slightly in understanding and sympathy.

 "Well, if it isn't Kellith and Sull," the cool voice of their Sensei echoed slightly in the room. 

 Harry knew her as nothing but Sensei. She was a middle aged woman, her midnight hair bound in a tight plait that hung to her waist. The Gi she wore seemed to suit her more than it did anyone else. When she walked, she made no sound that Harry could detect, no matter what the floor was made of. She seemed feather light, just looking at her, but Harry knew that she was as strong as steel. 

 She was very small, most of pupils towered over her, but she could keep her own very easily. She walked with a natural grace that was now beginning to show in Harry, after three years of training in Tae-Kwon-Doe.

 She was sarcastic, could be insulting when she felt it was necessary, persuasive and firm, depending on the situation. She was also and excellent teacher.

 After nearly a year of her tutelage, Harry hoped he would be able to come to her classes for a long time yet. She could push him to his limits, then shove him a little further into the unknown, at the same time making sure that every other one of her students had a thorough understanding of what she was teaching them.

 "Hello Sensei," Harry said, bowing Japanese style, as Dan copied his movements. "I hope I find you well?"

 "You do indeed, Harry," the woman said, a smile gracing cat-like features. "No one else seems to have arrived yet, and the class should be starting right about … Now. Very well, we will begin."

 Harry and Dan followed Sensei to the sparring court. "Kata!" Sensei barked at them. Harry immediately allowed his mind to roam as his body automatically began the half dance that was Kata.

 Kata did not require anyone else to be present, and was merely an almost-dance that incorporated moves that you would use in Tae-Kwon-Doe, against an imaginary opponent.

 "Well, you two did well to be the only people in class today," Sensei remarked as the lesson ended after she'd revised several moves and taught them one new one.

 "Thanks Sensei," both boys chanted back to her, and she smiled.

 "Be off with you!" She laughed. "I'll see you next lesson!"

 Harry and Dan tumbled out of the dojo, taking off at an easy jog in the direction of Harry's place. The pair of them had only rarely spent more than a day apart, and that was only because Harry went on day trips to 'visit relatives' – or go to Potter Mansion and Grimmauld Place.

 "Well Harry, do you have many relatives to visit over the holidays?" Dan asked, sounding a little forlorn.

 "No, I don't think so. I won't be gone more than a day at a time, most likely. I think that Keith (A/N _Sirius_) is going to be going away occasionally, so if it's alright, I'll stay at your place," Harry replied.

 "Thank goodness for that – I hate it when you go away," Dan replied, smiling widely. Harry smiled back, but didn't say anything, because he wasn't sure if he hated it when he went away or not.

 The pair of them stumbled to a halt outside the door to Harry's place. Sirius was standing outside the door, watching something in the distance. 

 "Hey Keith, how are you mate?" Dan asked.

 Sirius started slightly and shook his head. "I'm ok Dan," he replied. "Just remembering times gone by and friends long dead."

 "That sounds depressing. Do you want to come and play monopoly?" Harry offered his godfather. The monopoly game had become almost sacred to Harry and Dan, being the first game they'd ever played together, and it hadn't taken long for Sirius to join his godson and Dan in playing it.

 "Yeah, sure!" Sirius replied, his usual happy demeanour returning quickly.

 "Can't keep you down for long," Dan laughed as the three of them headed inside.

 "Nope," Sirius was happy to agree. "Come on! I get the dog!"

 The three of them charged inside to get their favourite pieces and organise the beginning of the game.

 That night Harry and Dan didn't sleep over at one of their houses, as they usually did, but rather at their own individual houses. Harry and Sirius went to Potter Mansion.

 "You haven't made any friends apart from Dan, in the year that you've been here," Sirius remarked.

 "That's because I don't like any of the other kids much," Harry replied, shrugging slightly. "I don't know _why I like Dan, when I don't like any of the other kids who are kind of like him … It just goes that way."_

 "That's ok. Dan's a good kid – I like him!" Sirius replied cheerily. "You two are a bit like me and James, really. Though Dan's not quite as mischievous!"

 "I wouldn't say that," Harry replied with a soft laugh. "On the last day of term he helped me set up buckets of water over all the classroom doors. You should have heard the teachers scream!"

 Sirius laughed too. "Good, good!" he replied. "You mentioned that before … And you didn't get caught – well done!"

 "The teachers would say you're being a very bad example," Harry smiled at his godfather. "When we _are_ caught, the Headmaster always says that I should find a good example to follow. But when I ask him who I should use as one, he's completely lost. He realised pretty fast that you're even worse than I am!"

 "I'd prefer you to say that I'm _better_ than you are, in the area of pranks and disobedience," Sirius said with a fake sniff.

 "But he means _worse_, because according to him it's a bad thing… Dunno what's wrong with him though."

 Sirius laughed again. "You find that in teachers. They don't like it when you muck up. Seem to think it's a bad thing. One of the reasons you always get in trouble… But you know what I always say."

 Harry chorused along with his godfather, "rules are made to be broken!"

 "Exactly!" Sirius nodded firmly. 

 "What are we doing tonight?" Harry asked.

 "Just going over what you've done already," Sirius replied. "We'll do what we can to extend on what you can do with your magic soon. But you still get tired _very_ quickly, so I don't want you to overwork yourself."

 Harry rolled his eyes. "Seriously Sirius! I want to learn _new_ stuff! Practicing is _boring_!"

 "Too bad," Sirius replied sternly. Harry knew that when Sirius decided on something, it was absolutely impossible to change his mind … Even when it was something like this, which Sirius would usually hate.

 "Sirius! What would you do if you were in my position?"

 "Be very angry," Sirius replied promptly. "And frustrated. And annoyed … You get the point."

 "So if you know how I feel, why are you making me do this?" Harry demanded.

 "Because I would rather you be angry, frustrated and annoyed than dead because you tried to do more than you could," Sirius replied immediately. "I know you don't like it, kiddo, and I know I would hate it too, but the main thing is that you have to stay alive."

 "Because I have to kill Voldemort?"

 "Because you're my godson and I love you. And because, one day, yes, you will have to kill Voldemort," Sirius replied. "But I don't care about that. I just want you to stay alive. I don't want to lose you like I lost James."

 "You didn't lose me Sirius," James Potter's voice came from the wall side. "I'm right here in this portrait! And inside your heart, where I'll always be!"

 "But you aren't here completely any more," Sirius pointed out.

 "But I'm not lost either. I know exactly where I am," James replied.

 "Whatever," Sirius sighed. "It's still not the same."

 "Never said it was mate! Off you two go now, I have to find Lily," James replied, wandering out of the side of his portrait.

 Harry and Sirius made their way further into Potter Mansion, running across the life sized portrait of Harry's mother. "Dad's looking for you," Harry told her.

 "I know – we're playing hide and go seek," Lily replied. "See you later!" she disappeared from the frame.

 Sirius and Harry laughed as they went onwards. James and Lily were always playing games together.

 "Here we are," Harry and Sirius walked into the larger living room. Immediately a fire lit up in the grate, and the torches on the walls leaped into life.

 "So, what are we doing today?" Harry asked, knowing that there would be no chance of persuading his godfather to let him move ahead in learning magic.

 "Making fire again," Sirius replied. "And light … and possibly levitating, depending on whether or not you're getting tired."

 Harry nodded. Of all the things he could have picked, making fire was near the top of the list, and light wasn't that far down it … Though levitating things was getting a bit boring now.

 "Fire first," Sirius said. "Make it in your hand, the blue fire."  

 Harry rolled his eyes. "I do remember," he pointed out, and opened his hand, concentrating hard. With a soft, welcoming crackle, blue fire suddenly sprang to life, hovering over his palm.

 "Good!" Sirius smiled at him. "Quicker than the last time. Now put it out." 

 A seconds thought was all it took to make the pretty blue flames die, all that remained of them being a slightly warm feeling on Harry's palm. Harry gave a faint sigh – he always hated getting rid of the things he brought to life.

 He could feel a slight ache starting behind his temple, but ignored it for the moment. He already knew that he would not be able to do anything with his magic after he'd made light.

 "Up to making light?" Sirius asked.

 "Yup," Harry replied gamely.

 "Ok, off you go."

 Harry had gone beyond making light just in his hand now, as he closed his eyes and concentrated hard for a moment. There was a sudden starburst of pain in his temple, and he opened his eyes to find his whole body glowingly slightly.

 It was a good thing he was sitting down, Harry thought, otherwise he would have fallen over and given the game away to Sirius.

 With a wave of his hand, Harry put the fire, and the torches out. That wasn't the same as magic, that was commanding the house to do something, which, as it's master, Harry could do.

 The soft white light radiating from him lit up the immediate area around him, throwing everything else into pale shadows. "Now put it out and wait while I get the house elves to bring you some butterbeer and chocolate," Sirius ordered.

 Damn. Sirius had realised what was going on anyway. Harry banished the light, and felt another starburst of pain as his eyes swam. _Why_ was it so difficult and tiring to use magic?

 Some days he was better than others, Harry had noticed. Today was a particularly bad day. Sometimes he could do up to five spells at one time, and now his was reduced to two. Simple ones at that.

 A few seconds later Sirius returned with Kiby, who was bearing a tray with a mug of hot butterbeer and a large lump of chocolate. "Eat," Sirius told Harry sternly. 

 Harry did so without a second bidding. From experience, he knew that both the food and the drink would help his headache immensely. "You should have told me you started to feel a headache after the fire," Sirius remarked coolly. "But done is done, and I don't really mind."

 Harry nodded slightly, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt even more. "Here, let me refill that," Sirius said, splashing more butterbeer into Harry's glass from a bottle he was holding.

 Harry smiled his thanks and drank only a few sips before the cup fell from loose fingers, only to be caught easily by Kiby's magic before it could spill so much as a drop.

 "Why is Mister Black making Master Harry go to sleep?" Kiby asked, turning suspicious green eyes in Sirius's direction.

 "Because if he's asleep, he'll be more comfortable on the way home," Sirius replied. "His head hurts bad, so this way he won't be disturbed by the passage home."

 Kiby nodded. "Mister Black is a good man," she said with a loyal smile, before disappearing with a crack.

 Lifting Harry easily into his arms, Sirius walked over to the fire place, and, with some difficulty, managed to throw a handful of floo powder onto the fire.

 "The Leaky Cauldron," he said clearly as he stepped into the now green fire. After a dizzying journey the tunnels, he stumbled out of the fire and into the Leaky Cauldron.

 "Hello stranger," Tom greeted him with a smile. "What's up with yon boy?"

 "He's a bit tired. We've been moving all day," Sirius replied. "Just came here to catch the Knight Bus – we're staying in a Muggle apartment – can't attach those to the Floo network, though it'd make things a sure sight easier!"

 "Well, I hope you and your boy get home alright. Hope he don't wake up on the Knight Bus …"

 Sirius laughed, nodding in agreement, and walked outside, still carrying Harry easily in his arms, and called for the Knight Bus.

 "Phineas, are you absolutely _sure there is nothing you can do to find out if Sirius ever used the Black residence?" Dumbledore demanded. Another year was gone, and he had still had no word of either Harry Potter or Sirius Black._

 "I _told you," the portrait of a man named Phineas growled in response. "The stupid house elf, Kreacher, took my picture of the wall and put me in his _den_. As I am no longer on the wall, I cannot move around. "_

 "Why would he have done this?" Dumbledore asked now.

 "You are repeating old questions, Albus! I have not been on the wall since just after Mrs. Black's death! About the same time Potter and my no-good nephew disappeared from the wizarding world," the man snapped, annoyed at having old questions repeated.

 "Do you think the two events are connected?" Dumbledore asked.

 "No. Kreacher hates my nephew," Phineas replied with a faint sniff. "Can't say I blame him at all …"

 "Get to the point please, Phineas," Dumbledore interupted tiredly.

 "Kreacher would no more aid Sirius than he would start hating Mrs. Black, his former mistress, in case you are wondering, that will _never_ happen," Phineas replied. "If that is _all_, I'm _trying to get some sleep!"_

 "That will be all, Phineas. Continue trying to get into the house and find out what is going on. I still think this is suspicious," Dumbledore said, bowing his head tiredly. 

 "Dumbledore, relax! The Potter boy will be alright. He'll come when he is ready. He will be fine," several pictures tried to placate the headmaster of Hogwarts.

 Sirius walked into Harry's room in the early morning, carrying a cup of warm butterbeer. Harry was sitting up against his pillows, nursing his head.

 "Here, it'll help," Sirius said, offering the cup to Harry.

 "It's not drugged?" Harry asked, and Sirius smiled, shaking his head. Harry accepted the cup happily.

 "Is Dan coming over today?" Sirius asked.

 "Actually, I wanted to ask you something about Dan," Harry replied suddenly, putting the cup on his bedside table and looking seriously up at his godfather.

 "What?" Sirius asked.

 "Well … We've been here for a year, right? Dan's my best friend, he's closer to me than any other kid I've known! It looks like we won't be moving on for a while from here, maybe not until I go to Hogwarts …"

 "So what is your question?" Sirius asked, looking a bit confused. "Because as far as I can see, you appear to be babbling."

 "That's just because I don't know how I should phrase this," Harry replied, smiling faintly. "So I'll just come right out and say it. Sirius, I want to tell Dan what, and _who we are."_

 Sirius sat down hard.

***

I'm sorry! Really I am … I didn't mean to end this in a cliff hanger, because I won't be updating for ages … But it just _had to come out! I couldn't ignore the need for a cliffie, and it was SUCH a good place for one! Sorry again! Please review and tell me what you liked/disliked about the chapter …_

 I don't have time to type all the thanks up, but I'll do it when I come back, along with everyone who reviews this chapter! Thanks for reading!


	13. Truth

**_NOTICE_**: THERE WILL BE A VOTE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAPTER! PLEASE READ WHAT THE VOTE IS ABOUT, AND THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT IN YOUR REVIEW!!!

**__**

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Twelve: Truth

 Sirius was sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee. He'd discovered the Muggle drink quite some time ago, and now _needed his caffeine boost to get the day started … especially when his godson dropped a bombshell like the one he had that morning._

 "Are you finished thinking yet?" Harry whined. When he'd asked Sirius if he could tell Dan the truth, Sirius had taken some time to respond. When he had, it had been the typical adults response: "I'll think about it."

 "No," Sirius said, in answer to Harry's question. "It's a big thing, Harry. What if he takes the truth badly?"

 "Then you can just wipe his memory and we'll live as normal," Harry replied.

 "But will you be able to live as normal, knowing that your supposed 'best friend' doesn't like who you really are?" Sirius asked.

 "I've lost friends before. We can always move again," Harry pointed out. "Sirius, Dan is my best friend, you said it yourself. Friends don't keep secrets from each other."

 "I know …" Sirius sighed, then, on impulse, he nodded. "Ok, you can tell Dan. But if he looks like he's going to tell someone who we are –"

 "We wipe his memory and split," Harry interupted. 

 "Exactly. Think you can do that?"

 "I have to, Sirius. I can't live with myself if I know I'm keeping such a secret from my best friend," Harry replied.

 "I know what you mean," Sirius agreed. "So Dan's coming over this morning?"

 There was a knock on the door.

 "No, he's already come," Harry replied, grinning as he headed for the door.

 Dan was standing outside, he was alone and smiling at his friend, little knowing the bombshell that was about to be dropped on him.

 "Hey mate," Dan greeted his best friend.

 "Hey Dan," Harry smiled back. "Come in, there's something I have to tell you."

 "You're not moving are you?" Dan asked, eyes widening, his voice taking on a wild note.

 Before his friends imagination took root, Harry dragged him inside and shut the door. "No, it's more important than that," he replied.

 "More important than you moving and never coming back? What could be more important than that?"

 "The loss of innocent lives," Harry replied grimly.

 "Hang on – you and Keith haven't killed anyone, have you?" Dan demanded. "Because I know you would-"

 "No, Dan. Neither of us have done anything bad. Our lives are the innocent ones that could be in danger here – remember that," Harry interupted again.

 "Someone thinks you did something wrong? Mum'll stand up for you – she knows you as well as I do! She'll talk to whoever needs to be-"

 "Dan, there is nothing you or your mother can do," Harry spoke gently. "But I need to tell you the truth. I can't stand hiding it from you for a moment longer."

 "The truth about what?" Dan asked. 

 "Me, and Sirius," Harry replied.

 "Who's Sirius?"

 "That's part of the truth. Just, come to my room, we'll talk it over then," Harry said tiredly.

 A bemused Dan followed Harry through the house until they reached Harry's room, where Sirius – in canine form – was lying on his bed.

 "Wow! You never told me you were getting a dog!" Dan explained.

 "We aren't," Harry replied. "That's part of what I have to tell you. Take a seat," Harry threw himself down on the bed and grinned up at his best friend.

 "I know you're my best friend, mate," Dan told Harry, "but at times you can be _really infuriating."_

 "Don't worry, everything will be clear soon. First off: You know about magic, right?" Harry began, his heart pounding nervously inside his chest.

 "Yes. Fairytale stuff. I love reading about it. Dragons, and knights, fairies and elves … It's all really amazing!" Dan replied enthusiastically.

 "What if I told you that magic was real?" Harry asked.

 "I'd say I wish you were right – I'd love nothing better than to know a witch or wizard," Dan said, with a dreamy smile.

 "Magic is real. You don't have to wish at all," Harry replied. "As to meeting a witch or wizard, you've met two of the latter. Me and Sirius!"

 "I don't know anyone called Sirius!" Dan exclaimed, sounding a little angry that his best friend was playing such an annoying joke on him.

 "Yes you do. You just don't know him by that name. You know him as Keith. Can you see him? He's right inside this room!" Harry said, a smile playing at his lips.

 "No, I can't see him," Dan said, deciding to play along with Harry's game. 

 "Have a proper look," Harry urged, smiling wider now.

 Dan got up, moving around the room, looking under the bed and inside the closets, and behind the curtains. Anywhere someone could hide. "Ok, I give up. He isn't here!" Dan exclaimed.

 "Oh, but he is. And he's about to prove that he's a wizard, aren't you Sirius?" Harry asked, smiling sweetly, oddly enough – from Dan's point of view – Harry was looking at the dog.

 With a tiny 'pop' sound, Sirius was suddenly sitting cross-legged where the dog has been a second before. Dan yelled aloud in surprise and fear. "What the!"

 "I'm sorry – it was the best way of proving that me and Sirius, or Keith, as you know him, really are wizards," Harry said apologetically. 

 "Wow," Dan said, sitting down hard and staring at the two people he thought he knew. Suddenly, he managed to snap out of his surprised stupor.

 "Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this than that?" He asked warily. 

 "Probably because there is, a lot more," Harry replied, glad that Dan didn't hate him yet – then again, he'd known that his friend would react this way when he found out about magic. Despite being a fledgling scientist, Dan loved anything to do with the supernatural.

 "Well, I suppose you'd best tell me then," Dan said, smiling happily, not knowing that the rest of the story would not prove as happy and exhilarating as the first bit.

 "You know how in all of the stories about magic you read, there is always a bad guy?" Harry asked, and Dan nodded. "Well, the same goes for real life, in the wizarding society."

 "Hang on, wizarding society?" 

 "There's loads of us," Harry replied. "I don't know much about it, I have very little to do with the magical world, but Sirius can tell you more."

 "The wizarding world, as we call it, is actually bigger than you would think. We keep ourselves to ourselves, most of us do not like to have much to do with Muggles – what we call non-magical folk – because of the old witch burnings. Most of us never forgave Muggles for that," Sirius began. 

 "We have our own hidden world, right in the midst of yours. We have shops and towns, schools and a government. At the schools, our children learn how to use a wand, which most wizards require to perform magic. The Ministry of Magic see's that everything runs smoothly and that the Muggles don't find out about us. I'll explain more later, that's about all you'll need to know for now," Sirius said, tiring of explaining things that he knew so well – it was difficult to put them into perspective for someone who didn't know anything about magic.

 "Anyway," Harry carried on. "Back to the bad guys. Twelve years before I was born, a wizard, who called himself Lord Voldemort, set out to become a Dark Lord. He hated Muggles and everything they stood for – no one is completely sure why. Or if they are, they aren't saying anything.

 "He started a reign of terror, killing Muggles, wizards who were Muggle born, wizards who had even one Muggle parent, or anyone who acted as though they liked Muggles. It was a very dark time for the wizarding world. The Muggles didn't know what was going on. They were scared, because people were dying everywhere, and no one knew the cause of it.

 "There is some stuff in the tale that no one really knows or understands, and some of it can be answered by something only a very few know about. I know myself, but that I can't tell you, so please don't ask. It is something that one of mine and Sirius's enemies could make you tell them about, and they cannot learn of it," Harry said, regretfully.

 "I won't ask," Dan promised, and Harry smiled thankfully.

 "Ok. Something happened, just after I was born, that made the Dark Lord nervous about my existence. He came to my place to get rid of me, and my parents. He killed my father, and then came after me. I was upstairs with my mother, she was trying to get me away.

 "He told her to move aside, and she wouldn't, she said that he could kill her, as long as he did not kill me. Being a Dark Lord, Voldemort simply killed her, then tried to kill me. Because of the thing that I can't tell you about, the curse he used to kill me rebounded and hit him.

 "By rights, we both should have died, being hit with that curse. But something protected me. My mother's love, the love she showed by dying for me, protected me from the curse, and Voldemort … He'd taken many steps towards immortality. There are only two things that the Dark Lord fears above all else: Defeat, and death.

 "His body died, by his spirit and mind lives on. He is out there, somewhere, we are sure of it," Harry said, staring at something far beyond the walls of the room he faced.

 "I still don't see why this endangers you or Keith … Sorry, Sirius," Dan said, blinking. "And why was it so easy for this Voldemort guy to find you? If you have magic at your command, couldn't you have hidden?" 

 "I'd best tell this part, I think," Sirius interupted. "Harry's parents were protected. I was their best friend. We cast a charm that hid their location within a single living soul. Only one that he told would be able to find the family …

 "It was going to be me. We let that story get around, so that everyone would expect me to be the one who held it. At the last moment, we switched to another, one of our other friends, called Peter Pettigrew.

 "Everyone, including Voldemort, was supposed to think that it was me that was the secret keeper. Voldemort would come after me, maybe I would die – I wouldn't have cared. As long as my best friend and his family lived on."

 "But Peter betrayed you?" Dan asked, quickly coming to the conclusion.

 "That he did," Sirius agreed. "All along, he'd been a spy, sending information to Voldemort. Now is where the dangerous part comes in. everyone thought I was the secret keeper, everyone thought that I _must have betrayed the Potters, that I must have been one of Voldemort's supporters – the betrayer."_

 "So you were framed?" Dan questioned.

 "Yes, I went after Peter, after seeing Harry on his way to his aunt and uncles place. It was against my better judgement, but I knew that, as I was now, I would not be able to claim custody of my godson.

 "I tracked Peter to a Muggle street. I cornered him, and thought that everything would work out now … But he yelled out that I'd betrayed Harry and his family, and then blasted the street apart with the wand behind his back, and changed form. He can do that, as I can (obviously) but there are few wizards who can.

 "The Ministry would have believed me guilty, they wouldn't have questioned anything, so I left as fast as I could. Harry's so called family tried to abandon him in London – he would have been eaten alive by rats if I hadn't come when I did. Since then we've lived as best we could, moving from place to place whenever something happened that drew attention to us …"

 "So you were worried that I might have decided you were guilty too? Or hated you because you were different to me?" Dan asked, laughter in his eyes.

 "Yes," Harry admitted. "Not everyone can take learning about magic, and not everyone would believe our story." 

 "Of course I believe you!" Dan laughed. "You're both of you my friends, you've explained everything to me, and I know that you are innocent!"

 "Well, that's a relief," Harry muttered.

 "You don't say," Sirius rejoined dryly.

 "So … can you show me some more magic? Like, other than Keith – I mean Sirius, sorry – turning into a dog," Dan asked eagerly.

 "We can," Sirius said slowly. "But we'll have to travel (by magic) to another place before we can do that, I'm afraid."

 "Cool!" Dan responded, too eager to see magic to care that he'd have to go elsewhere.

 Harry laughed, knowing that he would have a fun afternoon showing Dan some tricks, and exploring Potter Mansion with him.

***

That'll have to do for a chapter – I know it's not very interesting, but it's to help me get back in the feel of the story after Christmas. I was away for FOURTEEN DAYS with very little computer access. *shudders* NEVER again.

**I'm sorry for how many thanks there are in this chapter – I didn't put thanks last time, so it's a bit out of control *sigh* the thanks, unfortunately, take up more than half of the chapter. Again, sorry about that.**

And guess what? I've got a VOTE thing going on again! Would you like me to separate this story into years? So have Harry's life before Hogwarts as one story, then Harry's first year, second year, ect in different stories, or would you like it to be just one whole thing? If it's the whole thing, it'll be VERY long by the time I'm finished, I warn you now! Just vote one story or several stories please! This vote will last for this chapter and the next one!

Thanks to:

**Captuniv**: You'll find out how Harry gets into Hogwarts soon enough. Until I get to that point in the story, however, I'm not saying anything. Yeah, Dan is going to be a good friend, for a little while.

**Jbfritz**: Here's the next chapter, after a fair wait.

**Solar1**: Thank you!

**AthenaKitty**: Dan does become Harry's friend, and Harry moves to Bath.

**Wynjara**: In this chapter here is seven, turning eight in a short time.

**MarsIsBrightTonight**: I know what you mean, but Sirius _really doesn't like Peter, and he can be quite immature, as we all know. He feels betrayed and angry, and he doesn't __want to remember that Peter was once his friend._

**Wolfia**: Well, Harry's got one really good friend!

**Chicken Stars**: Glad you thought so, and I will!

**Dumbledore's Heir**: I'm glad you liked it – it is good that Harry is making friends. He'll be going to Hogwarts fairly soon, probably the chapter after next. Not _absolutely_ sure though.

**Dweem Angel**: Yes, Harry has a friend!

**HPFreak**: I think that In Every Darkness should be working for reviews again now, probably some glitch with ff.net, but that is probably fixed now. I'm glad you liked the chapter!

**Ocpawnmaster1**: I know – I hate dead cliffs as well, and there are SOO damn many of them! You'll find out about Hogwarts when I get there, and not a moment before.

**Shdurrani**: Glad you still like! I'll try and keep the story good, but this chapter wasn't particularly exciting, really.

**Don't Know**: Hey look, I updated! Just like you apparently wanted me to *grins*

**Wizardmon92**: Glad you like all my stories – maybe you'll review some of the other one's soonish? Have a look at In Every Darkness – it's pretty good (if I do say so myself)

**Jinx**: I'll try to~

**Stix-the-Rebel**: I knew that *grins*

**Nicoletta**: Maybe it will *grins* we'll see though, won't we?

**Prd2bAmerican18**: Here's the next one – it was really soon, but it was pretty much as soon as I could have gotten it out *grins*

**Calimora**: Nope, not Draco *grins* someone totally unrelated who doesn't play much of a role at all in the story!

**Empress Sarah-Sama**: Dan is a real friend, no worries!

**Enelya Fefalas**: No, Harry won't meet either Ron or Hermione before he goes to Hogwarts. But yes, he and Hermione might be in a bit of competition …

**Motigue**: Dan will sort of play a big role in the story. You'll understand better in a few chapters …

**Sea-Turtles**: I didn't have any bullies at my school either … Though there were only about 31 people in my school, which might explain it *grins* 

**Lady Cinnibar**: I'm glad you like it! This chapter was a bit of a boring one, but things pick up next chapter, I promise!

**Dreamer43**: Glad you liked it! Here's the new chapter (finally!)

**Hp4all**: Littler kids is used where I come from – but us Aussies are quite often a little touchy on grammar matters…I don't know if it's correct or not in the wider scheme of things, but where I am, it's just fine! 

**Hermione HP**: Glad to hear it!

**OriontheHunter**: No, Harry won't meet up with Hermione before Hogwarts, or any other of his year mates. Luna is the only one.

**Romm**: Yes, Dan might be in Ravenclaw, if he ever went to Hogwarts …

**Lord of Darkness13**: They will be in the story, but he won't meet up with them until he gets to Hogwarts.

**Mikito**: I'm glad you like it! Here's some more!

**BlueGryphon**: Glad you like it! I will!

**IRM Karmada Dothlthleig**: Well, I hope finish it soon! Here's the next chapter though!

**Solaris Isa**: No, it's a Muggle school. I'll see if I can get around to reading your stories, if I do, I'll certainly review them! And you should _always_ continue your stories – as you write more, you get more experience, and getting the habit of finishing stories is a good idea.

**Simezz**: No, Harry and Hermione won't meet up until Hogwarts.

**Cyblade Silver**: I'm glad you liked it!

**Cyblade Silver**: Nice to know you thought that! You wouldn't believe how much difficulty I had trying to figure what the different schools and years were called …

**Cyblade Silver**: Yes, it was really!

**Cyblade Silver**: Nice to know!

**Cyblade Silver**: Glad to hear it! Here's some more, and I hope you keep enjoying it!

**Maxx77**: Here's the next chapter! Nothing exciting, but next chapter will be better!

**Howling Wolf1**: I know, 37-47 reviews isn't that much … but I've challenged you again here!

**AnImE-aNd-Hp-FrEaK**: Well now I'll be updating a LOT more frequently, since I'm back from holidays *grins*

**DiaphanousChameleon**: Congrats on getting through your exams alive! Glad you like the story!

**MikiBaby**: You'll find out how Harry get's to Hogwarts soon enough *grins* he'll be going in a few chapters …

**LonelySpirit**: It _shouldn't_ say Karate in some places. I'll have to go and look over it again sometime soon and change that …

**Jaded Angel8**: Yeah, Dan'll be pretty important. He helps make Harry who he is at Hogwarts. Harry will be going to Hogwarts fairly soon now, but I'm not saying when.

**Nasser Himura**: I've already planned friendships for Harry at school, and you'll find out more when I get to Hogwarts.

**Wytil**: They might. I'm not sure yet.

**Hilel**:

To the Emperor of the Red Star Dynasty,

We hope you did not lock yourself in your dungeon for too long on account of Us, since We forgive you for not reviewing. While We were away over Christmas, We spent our time taking over a Death Goddess, not the one that resides in your lands, however. We are now getting a lot of titles, but We think that We will halt here for the time being.

Sincerely,

WolfMoon,

Lady Death,

Queen of Tenebralia,

Goddess of Darkness and Evilness.

**DIRBATUA**: Well here it is, and my apologies about the wait being so long!

**Songbreeze Swifteye**: I'd hate to have nightmares about my past too. Yes, it is good that Harry and Sirius are friends, and Harry won't have to constantly defend Dan.

**Zekkers**: Dan is Harry's age, which is actually seven going eight in this chapter. He's just a bit grown up for a young kid, but that comes from spending all of his time with an adult. But no, I haven't spent much time with little kids, or anyone who's younger than 12-13, because that's the age of the youngest people in my school.

**Ady**: No, I won't be doing every full year of Harry's life, at least not before Hogwarts, but I'll spend time in each year that passes, most like.

**JerseyPike**: No internet? How did you cope? The only reason I survived going away was because I took ten books (including LotR) and I still finished all of them, plus another one, before I got back *grins*

**VAna**: I'm glad you like it, and sorry it took me so long to update this chapter, but there were reasons, which I've already stated.

**Mike Potter 2002**: I suppose I ask a bit, but not that much *grins* and it's not that difficult for you, or at least, so I've noticed. Harry won't meet any of the Weasley's until he gets to Hogwarts.

**Stix-the-Rebel**: I'm not too great at getting spelling/grammar right *grins* I type that fast that I don't notice when I make mistakes, half the time …

**AthenaKitty**: Dan and Harry remind Sirius of him and James.

**Shdurrani**: Here's a new chapter – glad you liked the last one.

**Wolfia**: *grins* I know, it was a bit mean, wasn't it?

**Kathy Stgqvk**: I had a fairly good vacation, though there were some annoying points in it.

**Wynjara**: *grins* I thought that was kinda cute myself.

**Jbfritz**: Well, as if obvious now, I didn't manage to find a computer *sigh* well, I did, but not one that I could update from.

**LonelySpirit**: Yes, holidays are wonderful – but I'm never spending that long away from a computer again *grins*

**WanderingWolf**: Woah? Not sure how to respond to that – I'll take it as being good though *grins*

**MikiBaby**: Something BIG happens next chapter, don't worry.

**Midnight-Lord**: Well, I'm only updating one chapter of this story, but I am updating my other story at the same time.

**Nicoletta**: I'll tell you why Kreacher likes Harry at some point later in the story. It's important, and I'm not gonna mention it until I'm good and ready to.

**Azntgr01**: Thank you.

**Kemenran**: Here's another chapter, finally!

**Songbreeze Swifteye**: I'm making the Wandless magic as inconsistent as I can because I don't want Harry to be superhuman. I'm giving him limits.

**Taka ichijouji**: I'm glad you like the story so much! I did mean to update again before I left, but I couldn't get it done in time.

**Maxx77**: I've updated again!

**Prd2bAmerican18**: Here's the next chapter … took a while, but it's here!

**OhioGrl-HPFan**: Well, in this case, Sirius gives Harry the answer he wants.

**Aknightofni**: Thank you!

**Gaul1**: You'll find out more about the metamorphmagi ability in the fairly near future.

**Sea-Turtles**: I guess so – cliffies are fun for me because of all the reviewers yelling at me *grins*

**Romm**: No, Sirius isn't too great the maintaining a residence.

**Butler**: Thanks

**Clare**: Happy holidays to you too!

**PhoenixTears101**: Glad you like the story! Here's the next bit, after a bit of a wait.

**Howling Wolf1**: Thanks!

**Arelle**: It's not as bad as some I've used in the past *grins* but here's the update!

**Michelli**: Yeah, he will, eventually.

**Kraeg001**: Yeah, Harry defends Luna.

**Sirius's Gurl**: Dudley's dead, so he can't come to Harry's school. I have already planned the last few years of Harry at Muggle school, so I'm afraid your Dumbledore suggestion won't be able to be done either. Thank you for your ideas though.

**Fate**: No, Harry won't meet up with Hermione until he gets to Hogwarts, and Luna will play an important role in the story, later.

**FroBoy**: Glad you like! Here's the new chapter.

**Faith**: I'm updating now, for both of them *grins*

**Jeanne2**: Glad you liked it! I've updated … but to read this, you'd have to have known that already …

**Lil Ole Me 97**: Well, he doesn't want to keep a secret that big from his best friend. Here's the update, and I don't think it's THAT long since you reviewed!

**Laughing Cat**: I do try …

 Well, thanks everyone for reviewing the past two chapters of my story! Please review again! Let's try and get to 600 reviews this time! It's only 42 away! Hopefully not too hard. But I'll update after 590! REVIEW PLEASE!!!

~WolfMoon~


	14. Passing Time

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Thirteen: Passing Time

 After Harry had told Dan the truth about himself and Sirius, the pair had grown even closer than before. Dan, though a Muggle, had an undying fascination with all things magical, and never tired of experiencing magic with Harry.

 Harry and Sirius still went by the names of Keith and Harry Sull, and Dan still called Sirius Keith most of the time.

 Harry and Dan celebrated first Harry's then Dan's* eighth birthday parties together with only Sirius and Helen. Neither felt any need to invite other children along as well.

 They both continued in the Tae-Kwon-Doe classes, and spent a lot of their time together practicing.

 Harry was now the proud bearer of a yellow belt with an orange tip**, which was level two and a half. Dan had a white belt, yellow tip, which was level one and a half.

 Harry took Dan to Potter Mansion quite often, and the pair of them had a great time there, running over the grounds, swimming in the long lake that stretched across the far end of the grounds, causing havoc in the house …

 At school they were known to be terrors by the students, but were still almost teachers pets. The _teachers_ didn't realise that it was Harry and Dan who were doing all of the pranks around the school, and since the pair of them were careful to do all of their work and hand it in on time, the teachers liked them a lot.

 Another year passed, and Harry's ninth birthday was approaching now. In two years time he would be going to be going to Hogwarts.

 But just before Harry's ninth birthday, it came time to move again when a few rogue Death Eaters came through Bath and Ministry attention became _far too focused on the area._

 "You have to leave?" Dan asked with a pained expression. "Where are you going to go?"

 "Don't worry, I'm going back to Potter Mansion, Sirius is going to let me do home schooling from now until Hogwarts," Harry replied. "You can still come and visit heaps though! And I'll still come here too, I just can't live here."

 Dan still looked upset at this. "But what am I going to do at school?" he asked. "And at Tae-Kwon-Doe?"

 "I'll still come to Tae-Kwon-Doe once a week," Harry replied. "I'll come and visit you at _least_ that often! And at school … Well … At least you won't be bullied any more."

 "What about our pranks?"

 "You'll have to continue with them," Harry said decisively. "Just like you would have had to when I went away to Hogwarts anyway."

 "I guess …"

 "Hey, it's not like it's forever," Harry smiled. "Maybe we'll come back some day. Sirius is gonna put it around that we are visiting a sick relative, so when the Ministry's given up here, maybe we'll come back."

 "I hope so," Dan said.

 "So do I. But if I do, it won't be until at _least_ partway through next year," Harry warned. 

 Dan sighed and nodded. "When are you leaving?"

 "Two weeks," Harry replied sadly.

 "Well we'll just have to make the most of it," Dan said decisively. "Let's get to Tae-Kwon-Doe – you know what Sensei is like when we're late!"

 "Race you?" Harry offered.

 "Nah, you'll win," Dan laughed as the pair of them jogged off companionably.

 Two weeks later Harry walked into Potter Mansion with Sirius. Dan couldn't come today, but he'd be coming to visit the next day.

 "Well, it's kinda good to be home," Sirius remarked.

 "But at the same time we'll miss the life that we made out there," Harry remarked, sounding more adult than Sirius had ever known him to.

 "Yes," he nodded. 

 "You must have really felt bad, leaving _everything_ you knew to raise me," Harry said. "How did you do it?" 

 "I knew that if I stayed, I'd end up in prison, without any of those friends anyway," Sirius replied. "I'd rather be free and have you, even if there isn't anyone else, than be in prison and have no one at all."

 Harry nodded his understanding and they went to their own rooms to unpack and settle in.

 "Are you back to stay?" a voice asked him, and Harry turned his head to see a portrait of his father, a small one, looking at him.

 "Yes," Harry replied. "For a little while anyway. At least half a year." 

 "Oh good! We'll be able to cause some mischief together then!" James smiled. "I'll see you soon, I expect!"

 Harry nodded and bounded off. At least his parents were here… In portrait form, at least.

 In his room, he found Kiby standing, with most of Harry's previous possessions piled around her.

 "Why have you done that?" Harry asked curiously, making very sure that his tone was rebuking.

 "Master Potter should move to a bigger room," Kiby replied. "Kiby is being asked by Mr. Black to help Master Potter move his things to a different room."

 "Oh. What room?" Harry asked.

 "Follow Kiby," was the happy reply and the house elf skipped off. 

 Harry had a larger bedroom now – not the Master room, not yet, at least. He and Sirius spent most of the afternoon putting everything in it's new place, and Harry looked forward to showing Dan the next day.

 Another month passed, and Harry became worried. Death Eater activity was increasing in Bath, he wasn't sure why.

 Harry's nineth birthday was rapidly approaching, and he and Dan were happily planning celebrations for _both of their parties, since Dan's was, after all, only twenty days after Harry's._

 July the thirty first came, and went, and Harry had a great time with Dan, swimming in the lake, racing up and down the halls of Potter Mansion, conversing with portraits, consuming excessive quantities of food, and (in Harry's case) opening presents.

 The next couple of weeks passed swiftly, and the boys decided to spend Dan's birthday in Bath, revisit old sites and play some pranks on a few of the bullies who lived a few blocks from Dan's house.

 The morning of the 19th, Harry and Sirius headed away from Potter Mansion, stepping out of the fire place in a small wizarding centre in Bath.

 "Not a good day today," the owner of the shop they'd come out in remarked darkly.

 "What do you mean?" Sirius asked sharply.

 "Them rogue Death Eaters been out and about again. Muggle hunting," the man spat, and wouldn't say any more.

 Harry and Sirius exchanged fearful looks and hurried out into the streets of Muggle Bath. "I feel funny. Sad and afraid," Harry said, his eyes filled with both emotions.

 "It'll be fine," Sirius said, though he sounded nervous himself. 

 "It won't," Harry said, but, for a moment, it didn't sound like Harry speaking. But it passed, and Sirius paid little attention to it, more concerned with finding out where the attack had taken place.

 Over the city, hanging in the sky, the putrid green of the Dark Mark glistened sickeningly. Harry's quick mind figured out where the attack was all too fast. "_Dan!_" he howled suddenly and raced away.

 Sirius swore and leapt after him, hurtling forward, following his godson through the winding city streets, heading towards Dan's neighbourhood.

 The loudest thoughts in his mind said: _It'll be fine, it won't be them. It'll be someone who lives close by, maybe a neighbour. But Dan and Helen will be fine_."

 But somewhere, deep within his mind and heart, Sirius knew that this wasn't true. He knew that when they reached Dan's house, they'd find it in ruins, with Ministry wizards and witches crawling over it.

 Sure enough, he rounded a last corner to see rubble in the place of Dan and Helen's house. Harry was tearing towards it, screaming his best friends name.

 "Whoa there sonny," one of the Ministry wizards growled, catching Harry around the chest. 

 "Dan!" Harry screamed again, tearing at the hands that held him back, desperately trying to get to his friends house. "Dan!"

 "Who are you? Family, friend?" The Ministry Wizard.

 "He's ten years old!" Sirius snarled at the wizard. "But if you must know, Dan, the boy, was Harry's best friend."

 "And you are?"

 "Keith Sull, this is my son, Harry," Sirius replied. "It was Dan's birthday today, we were coming to visit from London, where we've been staying."

 "I'm sorry," the Ministry official said awkwardly. 

 "It's not like your being sorry will bring my son's friend back," Sirius replied. "Do you mind if we stay for a little while? Have you found the … bodies?"

 "Yeah, we found 'em alright," the man sighed. "They've been taken away already. We're just fixing some things up here."

 Sirius nodded. "Well … maybe it's best that we don't stay then. I thought that I could identify them, if you needed someone to do so. Harry should probably go home."

 "That's probably a good idea," the man agreed.

 Harry was kneeling, his head tucked into his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks and sobs wracking his frame. Sirius was crying, silent trails of tears, himself. 

 "Come on Harry, we'd best leave these people do their job," he said heavily. Harry didn't respond, so Sirius lifted his godson, with a little difficulty, into his arms, walking away sadly.

 "I know it won't do anything for you Harry, but I'm sorry," Sirius whispered into his godson's ear. 

 If Harry heard, he gave no sign of it.

 In Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was pouring over newspaper articles.

 "What's happening, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall asked quietly.

 "The Death Eaters are becoming more active. Why, I don't know. Could they still have hope that their master, Voldemort, is alive somewhere … are they following someone else's orders … or are they just restless?" Dumbledore wondered aloud.

 "I hope it is the first, if it must any of those," Minerva remarked. "For we know that You-Know-Who has not regained power, as yet."

 "But for how long?" Dumbledore wondered.

 "For ever, I hope," Minerva said softly.

 "For ever would be nice, but I think, and I do hope I'm wrong, that it will not be the case," Dumbledore sighed.

 "What is the latest attack?" Minerva asked.

 "In Bath, a single mother and her ten year old son," was the reply.

 "Albus, do you see a pattern in recent events?" Minerva asked suddenly.

 "Yes … all attacks are on single parents, mostly fathers, with sons of ten years or so," Dumbledore replied.

 "They are looking for Harry Potter, do you think?"

 "I think so, Minerva. The Ministry knows, and they'll be watching as many families that fit those restrictions as they can."

 "How did you get Fudge to agree to that?" Minerva asked.

 "I didn't," was the grim reply. "You know he's a hopeless case. I've been speaking with Alastor, and he's been pulling strings."

 "Ah, that makes more sense. Well, I only hope that not too many families are going to be torn up over this."

 "There is some hope though," Dumbledore said quietly.

 "What is that?" 

 "The Death Eaters cannot have Harry Potter, if they are doing this," the headmaster said grimly. "Small hope, certainly, but it is something."

***

*Dan's birthday is the 19th of August

**I'm not sure on the exact grading of Tae-Kwon-Do, what you see there is the results of a half remembered book and a _very confusing web page._

Again, not as many words as I'd have liked, but oh well *sighs* the next chapter should, I hope, be longer. People always seem to say that 13 is an unlucky number … Certainly seems that way for Dan.

 I know that a lot of people liked Dan – I really liked him too, and didn't want him to do, but it was important to the story as it changes Harry's character, and the way he interacts with other people, which is important when Harry get's to Hogwarts.

*****VOTE RESULTS*****

Most people wanted this to be multiple stories. I decided not to have two chapters after all, since I got so many reviews *smiles* the end result was: Story per year: 11 and Single Story: 8

**Note on thanks**: I'm going to change the thanks on this story to be the same as I now use for In Every Darkness. Those people who do not ask a question will have their name written in a list, and those who do will have the question answered after them. It's just easy and uses less space.

Thanks:

Lady Cinnibar, **AthenaKitty, ReflectionsOfReality, ****Wynjara, shdurrani, **Queen of the Jungle**, Chicken Stars, **BipolarGirl**, Dweem-Angel, **Kraeg001**, Solar, ****OriontheHunter, Ettanreb,**** PhoenixPadfoot89, yp, ****Thorfinna, Nasser Himura, ****Kathy Stgqvk, Kemenran,**** Romm, Zylexiaa, ****Wolfia, IRM Karmada Dothleig, **Cyblade Silver**, Golden Moon Phoenix, **Howling Wolf1**, Maxx77, **Nicoletta**, LongHornGal52, **Azntgr01**, Gaul1, ****Pottergirl48, futagoakuma-tenshi01, **^_^**, Duath, ****afanofthisstory, Solaris Isa, **midnight-lord**, Vanna, **adge9631**, AltonShadeFoot, ****Deep Fried Chicken Wings With Bananas, Melidy, **MikiBaby**, MorThreeo, ****Jeff, Stix-the-Rebel, ****Maab, FroBoy,**** LonelySpirit, Empress Sara-Sama, ****AnImE-aNd-Hp-FrEaK, Sea-Turtles, ****Prd2bAmerican, Keronshara, **ocpawnmaster1**, bibichan, **Phoenix Flight**, Jaded Angel8, **OhioGrl-HPFan**, Mike Potter 2002, **Hot-Salsa**, Corie, ****Taka Ichijouji.**

Ok, a bit pushed for time, so thanks everyone, and please REVIEW!!

~WolfMoon~


	15. The Last Year

**_After the Dawn_**

Chapter Fourteen: The Last Year

 Ten year old Harry Potter stood silently, his head bowed, dressed all in black, a single tear sliding down his pale cheek. Somewhere behind him, Sirius was waiting, and Harry held a yellow belt fabric belt in his hands.

 Kneeling, he secured it around a gravestone which had engraved upon it, "_Dan Kellith, Loyal Friend, Loving Son, Happy Child. He died to young. Rest in Peace._"

 "It should have been yours by now," Harry whispered around the painful ball of grief that was lodged in his through. "It, and a lot more. You didn't deserve to die Dan … But you'll always be my friend, my best friend. Now and forever."

 He remained there, kneeling, as above him black storm clouds opened and rain poured down in a torrent. One year ago today, Dan had been alive and ready to celebrate his birthday. Now he was dead, and grass was growing over his grave.

 Harry ignored the freezing rain, ignored the howling wind, that mingled with Sirius's calls that they should leave soon. His eyes looked back to the past.

 He remembered all of the good times that he and Dan had had, Dan, the first person, aside from Sirius, who Harry had really trusted. Dan, the person who taught Harry to make sense of chemistry. Dan, the person who had listened to Harry's great secret, and had believed in him.

 Dan, who now lay, dead beneath the ground. Who never laugh again. Who would never become a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. Who would never play monopoly. Never discover something huge in the field of science…

 A hand descended lightly on Harry's shoulder. "Harry, the rain is heavy, you have paid your respects to Dan now, as I have, but we're both getting soaked," Sirius murmured in his godsons ear.

 Harry nodded and stood up. "I'll come back," he promised Dan. "Every year, on the 19th of August, I'll come back here, to let you know that I haven't forgotten you. Every day, I'll remember you though. You were my first real friend, and we should have been born brothers. I'll never stop missing you."

 Then he turned his back on the grave and walked, beside Sirius, at a stately pace out of the cemetery, not once looking back.

 Half an hour later they both sat, dry and warm, sipping hog butterbeer before a roaring fire in Potter Mansion. Harry's black hair was tousled after it's vigorous drying by Kiby.

 Harry spoke little that day, his mind on his best friend. He ate only when told to, and didn't laugh or joke or play pranks as he usually did. He wore black all day, in remembrance.

 The next morning he was downstairs before Sirius was, and was eating breakfast in the small room that usually at in when Sirius came in.

 He still looked pale, but he was wearing emerald robes, edged with gold that made his eyes stand out. "Good morning," he said softly when Sirius sat down. 

 "I hoped you wouldn't morn forever," Sirius remarked softly. "I know how it feels Harry, you know I do, but life goes on, no matter how much you wish it wouldn't."

 "I know Sirius," Harry replied. "Dan would not want me to cry and morn forever. He loved laughter and pranks and stuff, and I won't forget that. One day a year I'll morn what could have been, the rest of them I'll set to living myself, as Dan would have wanted."

 Sirius nodded approvingly. "I eventually came to the same realisation, after James died … It was quicker for me, I think, both because I was older, and because I had you – I didn't have that much time to morn."

 "But you still morn on All Hallow's Eve," Harry pointed out.

 "Like you, I give my best friend one day of the year," Sirius replied.

 "Next year I'll be going to Hogwarts," Harry remarked suddenly.

 "Yes, you will be. We'll have to put some thought as to how you'll get there to … You won't be able to go as you, but otherwise you won't be invited to attend …"

 "There will be a way," Harry replied firmly. "I don't have to go back to Muggle school, do I?"

 "No. I know you don't want to be around children so soon after Dan's death, and you missed out on most of last year. You can stay here and learn what you what you want to," Sirius replied.

 Harry nodded his thanks. He was looking forward to going to Hogwarts – it would be good to learn magic properly, and learn to use a wand, instead of tiring himself out using the Wandless method that he was blessed – or cursed – with.

 He was getting better now, though as before some days were worse than others. On bad days, he might be able to manage five spells before he was completely worn out, a good day, maybe up to ten. Depending, of course, on the type of spells he used.

 In the day he often spent his time in the air, mounted on his broom, revelling the simple freedom of the open sky. Or he would be inside, planning pranks to play on Sirius and the portraits – never the house elves. 

 He knew that it would upset the house elves greatly, and he like them, so he let them be.

 Sirius watched Harry sadly. His godson had become cold and distant with almost everyone and everything. He disliked going out, because there were crowds, and the only person he wanted to talk to was Sirius.

 But Sirius knew what it was like to lose a friend, and was confident that Harry would get over it in time.

 The year passed. The only thing that Harry ever wanted to do outside of Potter Mansion and Grimmauld Place was to go to Tae-Kwon-Do classes.

 Harry didn't spend much time studying normal magics, though he did research Wandless Magic and Metamorphmagic quite diligently. Sirius and Harry both knew that being too much of a know-it-all was not a good thing – it was one of the reasons that Harry had been bullied so much as a small child.

 Albus Dumbledore was standing in the office of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. "What is you want this time, Cornelius?" Dumbledore asked.

 Fudge had changed a lot since he had first become Minister. The day that he had ordered Dumbledore to forget about Harry Potter, claiming that the boy must certainly be dead, seemed to have been forgotten by the Minister completely. He relied upon Dumbledore's advice in complex situations, but rarely admitted to it. 

 "This rise in Death Eater activities, what do you think it means?" the Minister asked.

 "I think that they do not believe that Harry Potter is dead, and are therefore trying to make sure that he will be soon," Dumbledore replied. He didn't mention that he agreed with the first part of the statement, knowing that he needed to keep Fudge's ear, at least for the moment.

 "But …" Stammered Fudge.

 "It is likely that they have some method of spying within the Ministry, and that they found out that the body the Aurors 'found' was not Harry Potter. Even if Harry most likely died, they have to be sure," Dumbledore continued.

 "They could not have a spy in the Ministry!" Fudge gasped indignantly.

 "They could easily," Dumbledore corrected him. "The spy may not be a willing one, but the Death Eaters do not flinch away from using the Unforgivable Curses, Cornelius."

 "You … you are right. But what can we _do?_" Fudge wanted to know.

 "Do as much as you can to protect anyone who could possibly be mistaken for Harry Potter," Dumbledore replied. "And do what you can to try and find out any spies in the Ministry. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to Hogwarts. The new year is about to begin, and there is much to do."

 "Yes, yes of course. Come again tomorrow please," Fudge said. 

 Dumbledore sighed inwardly, but nodded his head. "Very well," he said, and Flooed out, heading for his office.

 "What did he want _this time?" Minerva wanted to know._

 "To know what he should do about the Death Eaters, and why they were likely to be doing what they are," Dumbledore told her.

 "He didn't think that you were sure that Harry was alive, did you?" McGonagall asked hesitantly.

 "No. Much as I would have liked to, I restrained myself," Dumbledore replied. "My hope is returning – perhaps next year Harry Potter will come to this school, unharmed. He is not with the Death Eaters, I refuse to believe that he is dead, therefore he was probably found by some Muggle and is being raised harmlessly as a Muggle somewhere, whether in this country or another one."

 "I am glad to hear that," McGonagall said. "And I pray that your hopes are well founded."

 "As do we all, I'm sure," a silky voice murmured from the doorway. Severus Snape was standing there.

 "Ah Severus! What may I do for you?" Dumbledore asked happily. "Sherbet lemon?"

 "No thank you," Snape waved a dismissive hand. "I merely came to tell you that Peeves is wrecking havoc in the kitchens because he has been, once more, told he cannot attend the Start of Term feast." 

 With that, the Potions Master turned on his heel and was about to leave when Dumbledore called him back. "Kindly go and find the Bloody Baron and ask him to deal with the problem then, Severus."

 Snape sighed wearily – he had been hoping that Dumbledore would not ask this, but it appeared his hopes were in vain. "Immediately, Headmaster," he replied and swept out, this time unhindered.

 Muttering under his breath about insane and impossible headmasters, Snape prowled through the school, searching for the desired ghost.

 Eventually, he found the Bloody Barron in the lowest dungeon, which had been unused for many years. Snape was not sure what it had originally be built for, nor did he particularly care.

 "Mr. Baron sir, good day," Snape greeted politely, knowing that the ghost would refuse to do anything if he was addressed impolitely, or rushed.

 "Good day, Professor Snape," the Baron greeted in return, inclining his head slightly. His voice was soft, growling and completely proper. "How may I help you?"

 "Mr. Baron, if you wouldn't mind, Peeves is causing some uproar in the kitchens. The Headmaster and I were wondering if you would be so kind as to deal with him," Snape said.

 "Poltergeists," the ghost rumbled in disgust. "As you wish, Professor. I will take care of this," and he walked away through the walls in search of the said poltergeist.

 Good, Snape thought. That was over. He disliked dealing with the Slytherin ghost, as he had a general aversion to being polite to anything and anyone, save Dumbledore, and even then it was only on the rare occasion that he acted properly respectful.

 Sweeping away from the unused bottom dungeon, Snape returning to his office, where he had been pickling rat spleen before a distraught House Elf had interupted him. 

 "Well Minerva, you had best return to your own work," Dumbledore said to the Transfiguration teacher. "After all, the students will be returning shortly, and I am sure you have much to prepare."

 "Yes, Albus. I have no doubt that I will see you again fairly shortly. Something is bound to come up that requires our meeting," McGonagall smiled to take any sting from the comment.

 It was mid April, and in the Potter Mansion, it was snowing. Sirius had woken up to see soft flakes of snow floating past his bedroom window with utmost surprise.

 Suddenly the door burst open and Harry bounded into the room, jumping up onto Sirius's bed and grinning at his startled godfather. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now," Sirius remarked tiredly.

 Harry had discovered the previous year that he could tell the house what he wanted the weather to be like. It already moulded the weather vaguely on Harry's emotions (thus on Dan's birthday/death day it _always rained, and mist cloaked the grounds for several days before and after), but now he could actually __tell it __exactly what it was he wanted._

 "You should be," Harry agreed with a smile. "Come on, let's go and make snowmen!"

 "Harry! It's only eight o'clock, lemme sleep," Sirius slurred tiredly in response. "'s too early."

 "No it's not," Harry insisted, scrambling over Sirius and off the other side of the bed and throwing the windows open. A gust of freezing air blew snowflakes over the entire room.

 Sirius yelped and jumping up, hurriedly charming his pyjamas to become _warm_ clothes. "What was that for?" he asked, managing to force the window closed.

 "To get you up of course," Harry replied. "It worked didn't it?"

 "This," Sirius said slowly, "mean's war!"

 With a shriek of laughter, Harry took off, racing down the halls and heading for the grounds, trying to get there ahead of Sirius. Snowball wars! Yes! He thought.

 Sirius followed his godson a little slowly, happy that Harry was laughing and that the cold, withdrawn look that had been in his eyes near constantly since Dan had died was gone … At least for a little while.

***

Well, that was the last chapter of After the Dawn: The First Years. The next story will begin on Harry's eleventh birthday, and continue to the end of the Philosopher's Stone (being Australian, I go by the British versions of the books). That story will be up in about two days – to the people who's email address I have, I'll send the address, otherwise you'll have to look at my profile.

Thanks:

Infad, **fullsailnate**, kateydidnt, **AthenaKitty**, Wynjara, **shdurrani, Alynna Lis Eachann, ****Chicken Stars, Kraeg001, ****ReflectionsOfReality, OriontheHunter, ****Buffy Summers1, Mike Potter 2002, ****OhioGrl-HPFan, Nasser Himura, ****Gaul1, Kemenran, ****Nicoletta, Kathy Stgqvk, **Maxx77**, Hot-Salsa, **Anna L. Black**, Captuniv, ****Romm, MikiBaby, ****Stix-the-Rebel, Darak, **SS2 Megami-sama**, Aurora, **Tamsy**, Jbfritz, **Jaded Angel**, Phoenix Flight, **Jeanne2**, howling wolf1, ****Tropic, WAR, ****Chiquita-3, locolilgoddess, **Sweet A. K**, Empress Sarah-sama, **Ananova**, kinda ticked, **Taka ighijouji**, Dory, ****LonelySpirit, AnImE-aNd-Hp-FrEaK, ****Siri Kat, BipolarGirl,**** Sea-Turtles, Clare, ****Butler, Prd2bAmerican18, ****Cyblade Silver.**

Cool! Fiftey four reviews … Hmm, I guess asking for 38 isn't going to be challenging you enough now *grins* how about we try and get to … Hm 730? That's 47! Maybe it'll take you two days to get there, so I won't feel guilty about waiting that long to update *grins* See you next story guys!

~WolfMoon~


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